Negotiations with Fate
by Dae Kalina
Summary: Post Hellboy 2. Saraid returns the dead royal twins to the living, but every action has a cost. Nuada finds himself stuck with questions that only the halfbreed who saved him, Saraid, can answer. Oh, and someone has to try and keep the fae from dying out or starting a war with humans. RaidxNuada, some HBxLiz, NualaxAbe
1. Chapter 1

Negotiations with Fate

Chapter 1

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_Disclaimer:__ I do not own Hellboy, Nuada, or any other of the characters you see here except for characters you don't recognize. I may take some liberties with the magic and twist some events, but you have been warned._

_Reviews are appreciated, even if you just want to say you like it or you hate it and you think the idea is highly unoriginal. Enjoy!_

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He wasn't supposed to be dead; neither of them were. That wasn't the plan; it wasn't what the fates had told her. But then again, the fates had never dealt her a fair hand. Walking among the ruins of the golden army, seventy times seventy monstrosities, Saraid pondered the situation.

The half-elven woman stood above the shattered marble that had once been the Prince Nuada, her eyes empty of emotion. Ever since he had stolen the first piece of the crown she had been trailing the Prince, being careful not to be seen. If he had seen her, he would know her for what she was, and have tried to kill her. Of that she had no doubt, for he hated humans, and he would very well hate a half-elf whose other half was human.

"What am I going to do with you?" Raid asked, mouth turned down in a frown. She had known from the beginning that a time might come when he had to die, but somehow she had imagined that if his death was required that she herself would be responsible for it. The hybrid was not welcome by many in either world, but she wished strongly for both of them to be at peace with one another. It had been how her elven mother had raised her; along with how to use any blade in combat, thought Raid preferred her long bow.

Kneeling, she set down the rowan bow, in reach but not in her way. Carefully she began to gather the pieces of shattered marble, preparing to reassemble the prince. She didn't fault the prince for his wishes, merely his methods. And his sister was the last true leader of the elves. They needed her. That was the only reason she was contemplating bringing them back from death. It had nothing to do with how when she listened to Nuada's voice, his velvety tones, his raw passion, and watched him dance-for when he fought, it was not fighting but much more-with his blades, that she felt something within her stir.

From a young age the woman had been taught to stifle all of her emotions, whether they be anger or joy, sorrow or pain. Her mother had raised in her exile, apart from the elves, mixing her training in the mortal realms and the Unseen realms. Satisfied she now had all the pieces, Raid began to put them together, murmuring words in an ancient tongue lost to humans long ago to join the marble pieces together.

She had no idea how long she had been kneeling there, but she was finally satisfied that she had put Nuada back together as much as possible, and whatever she hadn't put adequately enough would heal in its own time.

Rising, a small groan came from her as blood returned to her lower legs, bringing with it the pricks and needles that informed her she had been kneeling for far to long. "Damn it, this had better work," she hissed, shaking out each limb to ease the stiffness that had set in.

With her blood flowing better, the woman made her way over to the Princess Nuala, who remained whole. Reaching out Raid placed a hand on the elven woman's forehead, and spoke words that could not be heard by any mortal ears, nor spoken with just a voice. The words could not be written down or captured by any means; as soon as they were spoken they changed, becoming something else.

Sweat stung her as it rolled into her eyes. Blinking she raised her free hand, wiping away the moisture. The spell she spoke was draining her, and she was glad she had already made most of the preparations necessary. _I take now the stream of time in part and twist it, to restore to life Princess Nuala and Prince Nuada, rulers of the Unseen realm. I cross into death and know the price, which must be paid in full, part of which I have already paid. Now, by the Gods of old who govern our world, and the fates that deal out our destinies, I call you back from that cold river. Come!_

The marble beneath her skin was warm, and it was a moment before Raid noticed that it was no longer marble but skin. A sigh of relief escaped her as she collapsed to the floor, drained. Her gaze traveled over to the prince, suddenly apprehensive, unsure of what she would find. The hard-muscled figure of the elven prince soothed her, as she saw his chest rise and fall. Now that she had brought them back she had little time to waste; she could not be discovered here.

Pushing herself up, Raid staggered to her feet, cursing whatever fate had decreed that the royal twins die at the bottom of a nice, deep, pit, with lots and lots of stairs. Making her way over to where the Prince lay she grabbed her bow, strapping it across her back. It was somewhat ungainly there, but she couldn't carry it and one of the twins. "Are you going to help or not?" Raid asked, crouching down and moving one arm under Nuada's back and the other under his knees. With a small grunt of effort she stood up. The elven prince was heavier than he looked, she thought, staring down into his handsome face, so pale and perfect.

That thought, so unlike her, made Raid jerk her head away, instead leveling a glare at her companion. The were-cat hissed at her in his own language, moving forward from the shadows. He was slightly shorter than Raid, only standing at 6' where the half-elf had four inches more than that. All of his body-at least, that which was visible-was covered in tan fur with black spots and striped, the pattern mimicking the ocelot. Slit-pupil eyes somewhere between yellow and green gleamed above a black nose and a mouth full of ivory teeth. Hands tipped with claws moved out to pick up the other twin, oddly gentle for the appearance of the creature.

Raid was not friends with the were-cat, thought the two were occasionally business partners. This time she had needed another pair of hands, thinking she would get into a firefight, and had brought him along. Roughly translated he had just told her that he was not a packhorse, but she was paying him, so he would help her. She responded in English, for though her mother had taught her to understand and speak most languages there were some that mere human mouths were not made to utter. "Good. Then let's get going."

The cameras had all went black, causing the agents monitoring the feeds to hit the alarm. Five minutes later Abe and Liz were lingering near the elevator. They had all quit, but they needed a place to stay while looking for somewhere else to live, and the BPRD had all their belongings. Now it wasn't their job to respond to alarms, as Hellboy had pointed out, declaring that he wasn't going to go help the men in monkey suits this time, but both Abe and Liz were curious about what was happening.

The alarm went silent, and the lift whirred into sight, bearing agents carrying stretchers. On the stretchers lay two agents who merely looked unconscious, while a third held one who was groaning and clutching his throat, and the fourth… both Abe and Liz did a double take. The last stretcher held an elf, one who had an uncanny resemblance to Princess Nuala. Abe reached out a hand, intending to touch the elven woman to learn how she came to be there when Manning stepped in front of him, holding a piece of parchment.

"I need you to do your psychic things and see who wrote this. They left it with her." The piece of paper was flapped imperiously in front of Abe, who instead started to reach for it but not before Liz caught his hand, stopping him from touching the parchment.

"What does it say?" she asked, arching one eyebrow. Manning looked flustered, and tugged at the tie around his neck.

"I can't tell you. Security and all that you understand…" he trailed off under the look that Liz was giving him.

"Fine. Then Abe won't read it," she replied, voice cool, even as the edges of her irises began to flicker, as if consumed by flames of blue.

"Wait! No need to be so hasty," Manning said as the pair began to turn away. "I'll tell you what it says. But just this once." Nervously he cleared his throat, again tugging on the tie, eyes going to the piece of parchment he held. "_This woman is Princess Nuala of the Unseen Realm. I have entrusted you with her care, for I know that she has love for the being that is called Abraham Sapien. Yes, both she and her twin were killed. Yes, they both live now. The Prince is under my care, for you humans would be quick to wish to see him dead, which would be a great annoyance to me, as I have spent much effort in restoring them. Your guards will be fine; they will have some bumps and bruises, but nothing critical._

_Lastly, I warn you not to try and find me. I mean you no harm, nor the human race of which I am part. But neither can I condemn the Unseen people, whose blood I also share. Know merely that I am a bane to evil, but also to ignorance. The fates have shown me what must be done, and so shall it be. Hope we do not meet on opposite sides, for your sakes. Give my regards to Elizabeth, Abe, and Hellboy. And tell the Princess not to worry, for I shall not do anything to harm the Prince._" Manning stopped, a breathless from the reading. "There's no signature, and the whole thing is mighty odd…"

Abe reached out one blue webbed hand, brushing it lightly against the back of the parchment, closing his eyes in concentration. He was surprised by what he found.

There was the image of a woman, neither human nor elven but some combination of the two, bearing the pointed ears and complexion of the elves, but with black hair that was cut to shoulder length Her eye were large, but more hazel then gold. "_If you are seeing this than you are indeed telepathic." _ The woman smiled, showing off perfect white teeth in her pale face. The markings of the elves were light upon her face, barely noticeable unless one knew what to look for. "_My name is Raid. I am indeed a hybrid of human and elf. I belong to neither world but wish both to be at peace. I won't let humans wipe out the Unseen World, but nor will I let Prince Nuada start another world war. I can't reveal to you my plans, merely that we will meet in person; and to ask you not to shoot me on sight."_ The smile she gave didn't reach her eyes, he noticed as the vision progressed. "_Be careful; you may be done with something, but it may not be done with you. Until next we meet, I bid you farewell." _

"That was strange," Abe commented out loud, frowning thoughtfully. "She left me a message, which means that she knows who we are and what we can do… and where we live, for that matter. Her name is Raid, and she is a hybrid-"

"Wait a minute, the person who just attacked my men is a woman?" Manning asked, sounding incredulous. Liz crossed her arms in front of her chest, glaring at Manning. "Err… right…" he said, shooting her a nervous glance. "Well, err, I had better be checking on the Princess…" Manning began to walk past the pair, avoiding looking at both of them.

"Well that was weird," Liz commented.

"That would be an understatement," Abe replied.

He felt as if someone had used him as target practice for staff training. Everything hurt, and worse, he had no idea where he was, or what was happening. The last thing he could remember was fighting Hellboy, and then a sudden pain, turning around, seeing the dagger in twin's chest… He was dead. He should be dead. Was he somehow alive? Carefully Nuada opened his eyes, frowning at the unfamiliar surroundings.

"Back from the realms of death I see," came a feminine voice from somewhere to his left. Instantly Nuada reached for a dagger that was not there. "Sorry, but no weapons for you right now. I'd rather not be stabbed in the back." The voice was smooth, soft, and lower than his sister's soft soprano. Moving he swung his legs off the bed that he was on, blinking as the room slowly spun into focus. In front of him, not four feet away, stood a woman.

The first things he noticed was her eyes, the careful emptiness of them, and then the light black armor that clung to her long frame, something that looked like silk but was harder than iron. Returning his gaze to her face he was unsure what to look for, as she dressed like an elf but her eyes were different. Of course, it was not unheard of elves to have different colored eyes, but that explanation didn't seem to fit.

A hiss escaped Nuada as he realized what she must be, and his lips curled back in disgust as hatred filled his eyes with a dark, fiery passion. "What kind of abomination are you?" he asked, voice scathing. The changed that came over the woman was remarkable. Before she had been standing easy, shoulders back, relaxed, a small smile on her face. The next moment she was standing up straight, eyes hard, face cold, staring at him coolly.

"First of all, my name is Saraid." She preferred being called Raid, but she wasn't about to let this arrogant elf call her anything short of her proper name. "And secondly, I am not an abomination." The voice was calm, but that was a deception and both of them knew it. Raid suddenly dismissed all pretexts of being calm and moved forward, to which Nuada responded by standing.

They were close, mere inches away. He was taller than her by a small margin, an unusual situation for Raid. This close his face looked so soft that Raid almost wanted to touch it. Almost. The reminder that he had called her an abomination quelled that urge. "Nuada-" she purposely left out any sort of title-"I do not expect you to be civil, because that would be too much to expect, but I would ask that you at least be creative with your insults." One finger came up as she laid it against his lips, stopping him from speaking. The motion, something she had done countless time before, was different. The feel of his warm lips against her finger sent small electrical tingles down her spine. That only served to further aggravate her. "I am tired from bringing you and your twin back from the dead, so I would appreciate it if you would let me sleep." Her voice was steady, though tinged with the first hints of anger.

"I know you hate humans, and though I can understand your reasons I disagree with you on some points. You can't leave this set of rooms." Nuada tried to speak, his shock over being silenced by her finger wearing off, but she cut across his half formed words.

"You're in front of my bed. If you would so kindly move, I intend to rest now. Before you try to do anything to kill me." Automatically Nuada moved to the side, letting the woman brush by him. Her hair brushed against his cheek as she moved, and he caught the scent of lavender, and other soft, natural fragrances. Nothing artificial there. His eyes closed briefly as he inhaled the soft perfume of her shampoo, turning to face the bed, before opening his eyes.

The warrior looked almost surprised when he saw the woman sprawled on the bed, body thrown haphazardly on top of the blankets and mattresses. It would be so easy to kill her, the Prince thought, trying to picture himself killing her, but all that came to mind was that she said something about bringing him back from the dead.

"I won't kill you yet," Nuada said, as he reached over brushed a finger over the area where Raid's heart beat. "I still need some answers from you," he whispered, eyes tracing the lines of her body, up to her face, memorizing each feature. She had the body of a warrior, hands covered with scars from training with edged weapons. Her mixed lineage left her with the beauty of the elves, but it was intertwined with the flaws of the human, lessening the perfect appearance.

"What are you really?" Nuada asked out loud, watching the sleeping woman with a curious expression. What kind of warrior slept with the enemy right there? He noticed as he looked around that there were plenty of objects that could be substituted for the actual things. Shaking his head, he could only think that this being must think that he would not kill someone in their sleep. She was wrong to assume that, but at this point in time she would not discover her folly.

Trying to get a better idea of who the woman was, Nuada wandered through the suite of rooms. It was decorated tastefully, he had to admit, though the basic architecture was not to his liking. The colors ranged from warm earthy tones to the cool blues of the ocean, to the vibrant colors of fire and finally to the light colors of wind. Each room was its own element, and its purpose was closely aligned with the element that was represented. The kitchen was the fire room, the bathroom the ocean, the living room the air room, and the single bedroom the earth room. There was another door, this one closed, and of a different wood than the others. This door was ancient, carved with heavy runes that had worn away with time.

This was the only other room left in the suite, the door that must lead to the outside being firmly locked, though he did not know how. He also noted that there were no windows of any kind, though plenty of paintings and plants, as well as small fountains and wind chimes-that stirred, even though there could not possibly be a breeze-and a fireplace with a fire that burned with no chimney. Placing a hand on the door he put his weight behind it, expecting the door to be heavy. Instead, to his surprise, it opened at the first light push, leaving Nuada to stagger forward into the room.

His first reaction was that this must be a door to some courtyard, because the things in here could not possibly be inside. Above him was a blackness that was filled with constellations of stars, but the moon was conspicuously absent. In the center of the round courtyard was a large tree of black flowers and white leaves, the trunk a rich rowan color that gleamed like molten copper. A cool breeze played with the Prince's smooth hair, and he smelled the sea in it. The circular wall was made of stone, set with recesses like archways to corridors, though the stones covered these doorways as well. The strange thing was that he knew he couldn't be outside; the meeting of the 'sky' and the walls was too smooth, and though at first the stars seemed real he could feel the enchantments that gave them their glow.

Around the tree's base ran a stream in a circle whose origin and endpoint drew a line that split the space in half. There was no place for the water to go, but it flowed as if part of a river. Nuada was… disturbed. He was not sure whom or exactly what Saraid was, but this was not the dealings of some mortal. The magic in this place was old, and did not like his probing of it.

Nuada feared nothing, not even his own death, except perhaps the extinction of his people. This room though set him off balance. He hadn't been expecting anything like it, and now it sent chills up his spine. Eyes never leaving the tree, which he was beginning to feel sure was sentient, he backed towards the still open door. Once safely past the threshold he shut the door, pulling on the handle that flowed from the door. The handle was carved from the same piece of wood as the door, he noticed, examining the fine carvings that had been worn down by generations of hands using the handle.

Silently he made his way back to the single bedroom, sitting on the armchair across from the bed, watching the restless sleep of the woman who claimed to have brought him back from the dead.

Saraid was used to dreaming of specters. Almost every time she closed her eyes spirits of the dead and images of the living haunted her sleep, and sometimes things that she could only guess were glimpses of the future. The first couple times she had woken up, cold and clammy, every hair on her body standing on end. By now she was used to it, and it no longer bothered her… except she didn't know what to think of this dream.

The specter in question was Prince Nuada Silverlance of Bethmora, gliding through her sleep like some wraith, stepping lightly but leaving a permanent mark. What was worse was that she found herself closely studying this dream version of Nuada, noting everything about him, all the numerous scars, the hard muscles that were trained for combat, and the golden eyes that had seen so much. The angles of his face drew her attention, the soft outline that marked him of the elven race looking perfectly at home in his pale face.

Just when she was getting herself used to the fact that he was in the dream to stay, the dream itself changed. Now Nuada was no longer an image that she watched. It began with herself standing in the midst of a mist-covered field, the tall grass hanging limply with moisture. Out of the low clouds stepped Nuada, artfully spinning his spear in its shortened form. She had seen him use it, kill with it, and knew how deadly it was.

Raid had little time to think beyond that thought before she found herself dancing away from the blade, bringing her own bow around the parry it, wincing as the metal chipped the varnish of the beautiful longbow. Any readily available blade, even an elven-enhanced blade, could not break the bow but it would take a beating. For some reason the varnish on the bow being chipped set her off, and throwing caution to the winds she spun the bow around, jabbing the iron tipped end at the prince, before reversing it and slashing at Nuada. The next thing she knew the edge of the elongated spear was pressed against her throat. Nuada moved forward, the spear shrinking as he moved closer to her.

Standing a few scant inches apart, Raid felt her breath quicken. This dream was far too real for her liking. She should not be able to feel his breath against her face, warm and smelling faintly of honey. She should not be able to hear his pulse in counter rhythm to her own. Golden eyes locked with hazel, and inexorably she found herself drawn closer to the ethereal being. It was not the fact that he was a purebred elf that drew her, but the intensity she could see in his eyes, the passion she knew he could muster. The hybrid could only watch in mortified horror as her hand raised to Nuada's face, pointer finger covering his smooth, warm lips, as if to stop him from speaking.

Enough was enough. On the bed Raid sat bolt upright, reaching for her longbow that wasn't there, her eyesight still blurred from sleep. Blinking she pushed her black hair behind her slightly pointed ears, vision gradually clearing. That dream had been far to confusing and intimate for her liking. Looking up she found her eyes locked once again with golden eyes. She pinched herself, hoping that this was still a dream. No such luck.

Rising Nuada towered over the sleep tousled warrior maiden, one corner of his mouth tugging up in a sneer of contempt that was hiding his amusement. Saraid's large, warm hazel eyes were clouded with sleep and her hair was a wild mess of ebony locks. She was still wearing the light armor, but it still managed to look disheveled somehow.

A glowering look met the prince and he was taken aback by the anger in her face. Raid looked like he had somehow insulted her in some way, and was taking offense at it. "Out of all the rooms did you have to sit in this one?" she snapped, the hair she had hastily moved out of her face falling once more over her eyes.

Nuada found that he had to restrain himself from retorting with some sharp comment, but if he wanted answers from this abomination he would have to keep a civil tongue. "I was not aware that there was a rule against it," he replied, voice cold.

"There isn't, but it's a little freaky, waking up to see you looming there like some bad omen," Raid responded grumpily. "Now leave so I can get changed," she said, shifting tones to commanding as she moved off the edge of the bed, stretching her arms out before standing up.

The elf gave the hybrid one hard look. Sighing, Raid wondered why she had bothered to bring Nuada back from death. He already hated her, as she knew he would, and he was aggravating and annoying to boot. "Fine. Stay. I don't care." Her tone was of an equal degree of coolness. Without any further warning she began to take off her shirt, sliding the fine mail over her head. Nuada went even paler before turning and walking with smooth, graceful yet hasty strides out of the room.

Raid allowed herself a small smile, though it was gone again in an instant. "The fates must really hate me," she murmured quietly, staring distantly at the door that Nuada had left through. "All things have a price, but I don't know if I can deliver on this one."

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_I don't know if I like where this chapter ended, but it was beginning to get long. There is more to follow soon. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Nuada or Hellboy or anything associated with it. However the plotline is mine, as is Raid and other OCs. _

_This chapter took longer to write than expected. That, and the winter break was busy. Happy New Year's to everyone. And to **DoomRabbit **I pronounce Saraid as Sah-rye-ad, but it has no specific pronunciation. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thank you to all my reviewers. This chapter is more of a transition chapter, but the storyline is starting to move._

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Saraid walked into her kitchen to find Nuada perched on one of her dark maple barstools. The look he gave her was far from friendly, though not quite openly hostile. Smiling sweetly at him the hybrid moved around the island, grabbing an apple from a carved wooden bowl. "Want something?" she asked, pushing the bowl towards the prince. He did nothing, still glaring at her with furrowed brows. Shrugging, Raid bit into her apple with a satisfying crunch, leaning against the counter, watching Nuada with a raised eyebrow and an expression of amusement.

She had emerged from her room in a pair of black trousers that clung to her thighs before continuing straight down from her knees, no longer hugging her muscles. The shirt she wore tied around the back of her neck, and when she turned her back to him as she entered the kitchen he noticed that it only went halfway up. The top of her shoulders were covered with thin scars only a fraction of a shade paler than her skin, marring the smoothness.

The scars she bore were more numerous than his, and he was sure that he had lived longer than this… being. Nuada was slowly adjusting to the fact that if he called her an abomination he wasn't going to get any answers out of her anytime soon. Ignoring the fruit she pushed towards him he continued to stare at her face, noting all the human flaws. Her nose was too large, more like a human male's than any elf's, her jaw was more square, and her lips were large and full, more so than any elven woman's lips. He found himself thinking that she wasn't actually unpleasant to look at, her large eyes full of life. Underneath her skin were the same high cheekbones of the elven people, and she bore the mark of the elves.

In fact, if he didn't think about it too much, she could almost just be a highly flawed elf, not at all human. Her frame was slender, though, and here he couldn't help but think back to the moment where she had started changing-regardless of his presence there-she was far curvier than any elven maiden the prince had encountered. His eyes focused on Saraid's face as he brought his thoughts back to the present, and he noticed with some curiosity that there was a small dent on the bridge of her nose right between her eyes brows, a scar of sorts. But Nuada wasn't there to analyze her. He was still here because he hadn't yet received answers and he hadn't found the exit either.

"How is it that I am alive again?" he asked, staring at Raid, waiting for a response. The woman took another bite of her apple, chewing slowly as she processed the question and debated on how much to tell him. This time Nuada was distracted by the choker she wore, a Celtic knot of some sort.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out, I think," Raid said, giving Nuada a sweet smile that held traces of smugness, noticing the fact that the prince's attention kept straying from the topic at hand. Nuada scowled and rose to his feet, leaning over the counter towards Raid, his face coming within inches of her own.

"I have spared you so far so that I can have some of my questions answered. It would be better for you if you simply gave me an answer." He was attempting to intimidate the woman, something he usually didn't have any trouble with.

"You really shouldn't threaten your host," Raid told Nuada, not showing the slightest sign of fear at his threat or his proximity. "It doesn't make me inclined to answer any of your questions. And trying to kill me would be quite foolish as I'm sure you've determined by now." Straightening up, the hybrid crossed her arms over her chest, arching one eyebrow at the Prince.

Nuada moved back, lips thinning out in a scowl. The abomination was treating him like she understood him, like she knew what he was thinking. Reining in his impulse to simply ignore Raid, he spoke, voice full of resentment and a hint of anger. "So I am to wait until you deem the time right to give me answers? And what am I to do in the mean time? And where is Nuala?"

Raid looked at the elven prince, face serious and eyes not blinking as she looked into his eyes, searching for something that she couldn't name, but would know if she saw it. "Nuala is with Abraham Sapien. And in the meantime, you'll be coming along with me." The look of scorn on Nuada's handsome face at Abe's name irritated Raid, and she closed her eyes for a moment, breathing deeply as she brought her emotions back under control.

"Look, I really can't force you to stay here. I don't have the time or energy to go chasing after you if you decide to go off. All I can say is that I'm going to try and show you why you can't just eliminate the human race as a solution to restoring our people." The hybrid moved off of the counter, walking towards the only door Nuada hadn't been able to open, the one he had to assume led outside. There she did something, shielded by her body, and the door swung open. Curios beside himself Nuada got up, looking over Raid's shoulder.

Of all the things he could have imagined behind the door, even if he had known it was not an exit, a room filled with weapons, armor, training dummies and targets would not have been on the list. Right in front of the door was a black marble table, where his spear and sword rested. Then it hit him, as he stood there, that she had also at some point stripped him of his armor, as it was piled neatly besides the weapons, and he felt a bit disconcerted at that knowledge. "Your armor cracked when you were dead. I repaired it, but I would suggest new armor sometime soon. Transformation on living things is one thing, on objects it's an entirely different story," she said, stepping into the room and to the side so Nuada could enter too.

Nuada stepped forward, eyes traveling around the weapon-adorned walls. All of the weapons were of a fine make, and were as various in shapes and sizes as in makers. He recognized an elven blade, a goblin war hammer, and a dwarven battleaxe just to begin with. The swords ranged from middle-eastern scimitars to falchions to western broadswords to oriental katanas. Mixed with the blades were slings with bespelled bullets, shurikans, throwing axes, light daggers, and other small weapons intended for throwing. Then came an array of weapons that would all take two hands; battleaxes, bastard swords, some sort of wicked double edge weapon with a handle in the middle, and others. Against one wall, not mounted, was a longbow carved with strange runes and tipped with metal. The remainder of that wall held a collection of bows and crossbows as well as bolts and arrow. Arrayed around the room were stands holding armor and some holding yet more weapons.

As much as he hardly wanted to admit it, the room's collection was impressive, and he had to wonder if perhaps Saraid knew more about fighting than he had given her credit for. Even if that was the case though, she seemed very young as far as her concerns seemed to reach. No hardened veteran would be able to sleep with the enemy in the same room. They wouldn't leave that enemy alive. That statement then begged another question: Did Saraid consider him an enemy? The thought gave Nuada pause as he re-assessed the strange creature in front of him. Saraid had moved through the room to where the inlayed longbow leaned against one wall, made of rowan but carved with runes inlayed with silver, gold, and jade. He realized as she picked it up that it was cleverly joined in the middle, and that it could probably split into two primitive spears. It was an interesting idea, though he had to wonder how if it weakened the bow.

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Saraid picked up her bow, glancing back over her shoulder to see Nuada still standing there, gaze roving about the room. A small sardonic smile escaped her. The prince likely thought her some fool to bring him here, knowing that he did not like humans. Yet this was all part of her hastily thrown-together plan, one that impulse had dictated. Perhaps she should have left the prince and his sister dead, but she just couldn't. Without Nuada, the Unseen People would slowly become nothing more than myth and legend as was commonly thought by humans. His actions most often called for blood to be spilled, and Saraid had no qualms about killing-but she had a respect for human lives, and a general liking of their kind… or at least some of their kind. As many humans as she liked there were at least double that number who she wished would suffer a terrible fate, not death, as that would be too quick, but some long and drawn out pain that ate them away.

Looking away from Nuada as he focused his piercing gaze on her, Raid moved towards some of the armor, humming quietly as she debated which suit to where, if indeed any at all. The way Nuada had looked at her moment ago hadn't been the same as earlier, she reflected, as she weighed protection on her arms versus more mobility. The look had seemed more appraising, less hostile. _Likely he's trying to figure out what kind of nut case I am,_ she thought drily.

......

Nuada briefly met her eyes, again caught by the guarded intensity in them, before she turned away, moving over to some armor. She was unprotected, such an easy target… Moving with a silent speed and grace that no mortal could hope to match Nuada lifted his spear from it's resting spot as he stalked towards the unaware woman. Placing his other hand on the spear shaft he lengthened it, not breathing as he came within striking distance of Saraid. It was as simple as straightening his left arm, letting the leaf-head blade press into the white skin of her back.

........

"I think it is time some of my questions were answered," Silverlance said, voice clear and cold like a mountain fed stream. It held the same captivating beauty too, Saraid noticed as she felt the razor tip pressing lightly against her back, so sharp that it was already drawing blood even though Nuada applied no pressure.

A sigh escaped Raid as she stared at the armor. This was going to be a long day. Bow held firmly in her right hand she stepped forward, pivoting and bringing the longbow up, pushing Nuada's spear away from her. The motion surprised the Prince, she supposed, because he did not immediately retaliate. The next instant he recovered, the spear now resting against the hollow of her throat.

Irritability rose in the hybrid. She was tired still, and not in the mood for a confrontation with the beautiful man before her, with his cruel arrogance and persuasive voice. Attracted though her body may have been to him, his attitude was starting to tick her off. "So is this always how you treat people who bring you back from the dead, or am I just a special case?" The acid in Raid's voice surprised her, though it had no effect on Nuada's unblinking gaze. That lack of response got to her more than the spear held threateningly against her, more than the references to her being an abomination. "Damn it! I'm tired, drained, and beginning to doubt my sanity in bringing back such a selfish, arrogant, conceited, delusional, pompous, apathetic fool!"

Her hazel eyes sparked with anger, the first real emotion he had seen in them. The words she flung he tried to ignore, but he did not like the way she called him conceited and a fool. "I have done what I've done for my people," he told her in that clipped tone. The thin line of her mouth indicated that she had other thoughts, and it was barely a second before she voiced them.

"Right. So that's why you continued fighting even when you knew it would only result in death, likely yours, and of course your sister's, even though she was in love, and starting another war would have done nothing for our people! You don't think things through, you act rashly, and you kill needlessly, and only increase hatred and fear of us! You think that with one big battle we could thrive again, but that's not going to happen! You don't-" Nuada's temper rose to a point where he snapped, the spear going to the floor as he stepped forward, pressing Saraid's frame against the wall with his own, one hand covering her mouth.

In the moment of silence, Raid's eyes conveying surprise, Nuada could feel her lips still moving against his hand, and he tried to ignore the tingling he received from the contact. It had been too long in Exile, too long since he had enjoyed a woman's company other than his sister's or an informer… or a troll. That was why he noticed every point where their two bodies connected, where his other hand, pinning her hand with the bow above her head, after making her drop the weapon with a painful twist of the wrist, felt the frantic beating of her pulse in her veins, and why it was so appealing to him.

_She's part human! She's an abomination!_ Part of him screamed the reasons why he had to stop those thoughts now, but they were lost in a flood of other thoughts. _When was the last time a woman stood up to you? When she insulted you, and then looks angry when you retaliate?_ The surprise in Saraid's eyes had turned to a burning anger, and her lips stopped moving as she just stared at him. Her other arm was still free, he realized, too late as she acted.

.........

Her opinion of Nuada had changed, ever so slightly, as he pressed her against the wall. It had taken less time than she thoughts for him to lose his composure. But the way he kept looking at her, restraining her… The jerk. Raid had brought him and his twin back from the dead, and this was his response! She hadn't expected much else, but she had at least imagined that she would be able to talk to him, to convince him that he owed her something, and that something would consist of her showing him that humans weren't so bad. Being pinned between Nuada and a wall, unable to speak, was not part of her plan.

He had forgotten to restrain one of her arms, probably because he had only been thinking about shutting her up. His mistake. With a quick movement, and little forethought, Raid raised her hand to the wrist of the hand covering her mouth. She twisted, ducking and spinning away as Nuada's other hand came free so he could pin her back against the wall. Raid's two favored types of fighting were with her longbow and hand-to-hand combat; while she knew she was better than Nuada with her bow she wasn't sure about hand-to-hand, but she had little choice.

Her left hand still gripping one of Nuada's arms she threw her hip, what little there was, into the prince's side, pulling the arm down over her shoulder. Still momentarily surprised by Raid's violent and quick reaction Nuada stumbled over Raid, not quite being thrown as she had intended. Reflexes honed by centuries of training caught Nuada before he hit the floor and allowed him to turn the stumble into the roll so he was on his back. A quick hook of his foot around the back of the hybrid's knees brought her down on top of him. She didn't try to cushion her fall, even moving so one elbow dug sharply into the area just below his ribs.

A small breath whooshed out of him, as Raid pinned one of his arms over her head, but now her position was working to her disadvantage. Her other arm was still crushed between Nuada and herself, and though she was on top, she had no real leverage. Nuada seized her momentary weakness and used his free arm to help move himself so now he was straddling the abomination, able to grab both her arms and pin them above Raid's head. Blood racing, the elf waited for another attack, only to find Raid no longer struggling.

"What now?" she asked him, those eyes boring into him, full of accusations. Nuada blinked, thrown by her calm question and lack of struggle. Annoyance threaded through her words this time as she spoke. "I said, Nuada Silverlance, _what now?_" The force in those two questions was forceful and restrained at the same time, a curios combination.

His thoughts organized themselves, and he replied in that silken and honeyed voice that could convince the most peaceful of people to raise arms. Dangerous. That was what he was. Again Raid wondered what had even prompted her to bring him back from death, where he couldn't do any harm to anyone.

"Now you are going to tell me who you are, and what you have done to me and my sister." The request sounded so simple, even though Raid could tell that Nuada wasn't requesting the answers, but demanding them. Again she just listened to the smooth tones of his voice, marveling in how such a cruel being could be so charismatic. Then again, he wasn't precisely cruel, just misguided. Okay, so he was a little more than misguided, but Raid had her own share of darkness.

"I've told you-my name is Saraid. I don't have any family name that I use, but others have many names for me. Split-heart. Line-walker. The Queen's Bane. The Furies Disciple. Fate Negotiator." She attempted a shrug, but the movement of shoulders was minimal. "And all I did was restore you and Nuala to life. Nothing else. The golden army is already lying ruined, and I'm glad. Something like that is a true abomination. Fighting things that have no fear, no feelings, no apparent weaknesses… it would be devastating." For a moment Raid's eyes got far away, before refocusing on Nuada.

"You talk a lot, but you do not say much about you. How did such a abomination as yourself come into existence?" The haughty tones mixed with contempt and disgust in voice as he discussed her, referring to her as abomination made Raid clench her teeth, sorely tempted to kill him… again. Again she wondered why the hell she had thought bringing him back was a good thing, and why she thought she could make him change his mind about humans.

The first words to her lips were a snide retort to his question, but she held back from saying to quip. "My mother fell in love with my mortal father. He was already infatuated with her. I was born, my father died, then my mother later on." The flatness of her tone helped her to remember that she had to rein in her emotions, keep them neutral and flat.

........

Nuada looked into the hybrid's eyes, noticing the faint honey-colored skin around the amber orbs. Once more they had become empty, devoid of feeling, a tall stonewall with no cracks or chipped mortar. He was having trouble understanding this strange creature, and he berated himself for the thoughts. He didn't want to understand her. He needed to get out of here, to try and raise a new army, one that would obey his orders but the soldiers would have to be composed of living flesh and blood, as the Golden Army was destroyed…

He frowned, as he finally processed the creature's words. "Your mother fell in love with a mortal? Impossible." The prince sounded so sure, so positive that he was right and Saraid was lying, because what she said couldn't possibly be the truth. "But that matters little. You are going to show me the door, and then I am going to leave."

..........

The confidence and surety in his voice made Raid smile bitterly. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that." For a brief moment, so quick Nuada almost imagined he saw it, her eyes softened. "If I let you go out to raise another army, I would have to kill you." She sounded so calm, and the notion so absurd, that the Prince nearly laughed. Instead he eyed her critically, realizing that she was deadly serious, and he began to wonder just what kind of power she really had.

"How about a deal?" The offer surprised both Raid and Nuada, as Raid hadn't really meant to say the proposal out loud. It was just a stray thought that crossed her mind, as she thought what she would do if this was someone who she wanted to keep alive and wanted them to do something.

Nuada gave her a hard stare, trying to determine whether or not she was sincere. Deciding she was, he loosened his grip on her hands, not quite letting go of them, but allowing feeling to return to them. "I am listening," he said simply.

"You give me three months to show you why you shouldn't kill humans. If I convince you, well then I guess I've convinced you. If not, you get to go your own way, raise an army or whatever, and I won't put an arrow through your back." Raid's eyes locked with Nuada's, neither wanting to be the first to blink or look away.

"That sounds tilted to your sides, but…" here Nuada inclined his head to one side slightly, examining Raid's features again, "perhaps if you can offer me something better. And one month, not three." He wouldn't admit it, but the abomination had captured his curiosity, and he had to wonder if she saw the same thing in humans that his sister seemed to see.

Raid froze for a moment, trying frantically to think. What could she do to make Nuada more interested in the deal? All she had was herself and her weapons, little else…. Ah. "Two months. And if _you_ can convince me that humans need to be killed, I will join you in your fighting. Additionally, I'll convince Manning to let you onto the base to see Nuala, if you want."

The deal still seemed rather trivial, but… two months was nothing really. He had all the time he wanted. Already he had waited for centuries in exile. What was two more months? Besides, if he tired of it, he could walk away. "Fine. We have an agreement." Releasing her hands, Nuada stood up, brushing his hands against is clothes as if trying to rid them of some taint.

Stifling her anger, Raid pushed herself up to a sitting position, massaging her wrists to get the blood flowing normally. The glare she shot Nuada was wasted as the Prince had turned to pick up his weapons and their sheaths, strapping them on. Sighing, the hybrid stood up, wondering what she had just gotten herself into. Two whole months, both seemed like a lot of time and very little. Meanwhile, she had to think of something to do to convince Nuada to change his mind.

_Great. I just might have doomed humans. Of course, if I fail there's always Hellboy and his gang, thought they _did_ quit…. Well, I'm sure if I screw this up _someone_ will stop Nuada from wiping out the human race. I hope…_

Getting up from the floor Raid grabbed her own bow, strapping it across her back as she thoughts over where she could take Nuada so he could see some good from humans. Where did _she _usually go? Frowning slightly, she realized that she spent a great deal of time at home practicing with weapons. Still, she did go out a couple times a week.

A smile came to her face. It was perfect. She usually tried to go there at least once a week, and she hadn't gone yet this week. Besides, it was getting close to Christmas, which meant that Nuada could help her get gifts for the children… She would like to see even Nuada Silverlance say children were evil. "Don't worry about getting your armor on; we aren't going to get into any fights. Just grab a jacket." Walking past the elf, Raid grabbed her jacket from where it was slung over the back of a chair. Pressing a palm against the aged wooden door, it opened for her, and she stood waiting in the courtyard as Nuada came in, wearing a jacket that had been in the weapons room.

Stifling laughter, Raid turned to the tree in the center and spoke softly to it, so softly that even Nuada's keen ears couldn't catch what she was saying. After a moment she straightened up and walked around the tree, next to the river until she reached one of the painted arches, and passed through it. For a moment the elf stood stunned, before following the hybrid, pausing before going into the archway to feel the openings on either side. Those were still painted, and he guessed that they must be portals of some sort. Taking a deep, steadying breath Nuada passed through the door.

.........

On the other side was a modern parking garage, with a dark black SUV in front of him. It was the type of vehicle that almost screamed unmarked police car, and in fact it was made by the same manufacturer and upgraded almost identically, with some key differences-such as no sirens, for starters.

Glancing at Nuada out of the corner of her eyes, Raid noticed his scowl and lips curling back in contempt. She also noticed that he was still wearing his usual training clothes he had had on underneath his armor. It didn't look too out of place, but she would have to talk him into wearing some different clothes, at least around humans. "You need a glamour, otherwise you'll never pass for human."

Nuada turned to Raid, having forgotten her presence for a moment. "Very well then," he said, tone cold. He was already starting to regret agreeing to this. If nothing else though, he was persistent, and wasn't about to give up so easily. He watched as she drew some diagrams with her fingers, and muttered some more unintelligible words. When she stopped and turned to unlock the car he assumed she was done.

"Are you coming or not?" Raid asked from the driver's seat, as she started the engine. Nuada moved to the other side of the car slid into the door, which the hybrid had leaned across and opened for him. Once inside he sat there, looking very uneasy and disgusted. Sighing, and not feeling like explaining to him what the purpose of a seatbelt was, Raid leaned across him, grabbing the seatbelt and buckling him in. He looked startled at her proximity, and before she could say anything she buckled herself in and started the car moving. The expression on Nuada's face was priceless. She also noticed that his color looked slightly off, though it could have just been the glamour…

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The orphanage was only a few minutes from the parking garage, but it felt like longer to the elven Prince. Opening is eyes he fumbled at the door latch, trying to get it open, and finally succeeding. He spilled out of the truck and onto the asphalt, breathing deeply of the crisp clean air-outside. Vehicles were just another human abomination, one he didn't care for. Raid came around to his side of the car, giving him a look that might have been sympathetic.

"Weapons stay in the car," she told Nuada, crossing her arms over her chest. Narrowing his eyes, Nuada almost refused, but saw that she had indeed removed all her weapons. Reluctantly the Prince did the same, fingers lingering on the leather sheaths before he left them on the seat. Shutting the door, the car beeped, causing Nuada to jump slightly. Raid's badly suppressed grin did nothing to help his mood.

Sobering up, Raid caught Nuada's eyes with her own. "This is a human orphanage-a place where they take care of children whose parent's are dead or who have abandoned them. These kids… they've had it tough. But they're good kids, if rather shy." Suddenly her eyes sparked, and she stepped closer to Nuada, so they were a scant few inches apart. "You will keep a civil tongue, and be polite." The steel in her voice was a change, as well as the anger and fierce protectiveness in her eyes.

It was a weakness, Nuada realized. If he ever needed to, these children would be a way to get to Saraid. "I do not make a habit of being rude like humans," he replied acidly. The glare Raid shot him only resulted in the Prince shrugging it off like it was nothing. Simmering with anger, Raid took a deep breath; calming her emotions before going up to the old double door and knocking on it with sharp, succinct raps. A few moments later a harried looking woman opened the door, letting out a large breath of relief.

"Ah, 'tis good ta see ya miss Raid. Ta Headmistress is at the front desk if ye be lookin' for 'er." Smiling wearily at Raid and by extension Nuada, the woman bustled down another corridor with her stack of towels.

Wordlessly Raid walked around a corner, took the second door on the left, and then took another right to come to a desk that Nuada assumed must be the reception area. "Mrs. Havler?" At the name the woman sitting behind the desk looked up, eyes wary. Seeing Raid the wariness left. "Miss Raid; I am glad to see you today. Please, go right on in; the children were wondering what was keeping you this week. Andrea especially; that girl's had two failed interviews so far." For the first time Mrs. Havler seemed to notice Nuada, and shrewdness entered her manner, along with a smile.

"And who is your lovely friend? I don't recall you ever bringing any male here before," Mrs. Havler said to Raid, as she examined his clothing, taking in the fine fabric and obviously tailored fit. He was rich then-perhaps Saraid's boyfriend? She knew Raid was wealthy, and it only seemed reasonably to assume that Nuada was her boyfriend-or maybe fiancée?

"Are you finally looking to adopt with him?" Mrs. Havler pressed, deciding that Nuada was fit physically, even if his manner seemed a little cold. Raid looked taken aback, before shaking her head.

"I meant what I said before, Mrs. Havler. I love these children, but my lifestyle just doesn't support kids. And-" here Raid almost paused, trying to think of an alias for Nuada, before deciding that it would be too much hassle to remember, "Nuada is just a friend."

"Hmm…" was Mrs. Havler's only reply as she gave Nuada the third degree look again. Raid was young, but Mrs. Havler had seen her fair share of budding romances and these two looked good together. "Go ahead. You know where to go. I've got to get back to work," she said, waving Saraid in through another door.

Nuada gave Raid a questioning look, not understanding all of what had just passed, but getting that Mrs. Havler had thought that he and Raid were somehow associated… and what kind of lifestyle did Raid have anyways? The hybrid avoided his gaze, and before he could grab her arm and make her answer his questions, a blur of a human girl came running at high speeds towards them. "She's here! She's here!" the girl cried as she barreled towards the two immortals. "And-" the girl suddenly stopped dead, face draining of blood. The next words she spoke did not sound like her voice at all, but rather of some older being.

"-And her death is walking with her."

* * *

_Reviews are appreciated as always! By the way, this (......) indicates perspective change. THis (.-.-.-.-.-.) indicates time passing. 'Till next chapter!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I do not own Hellboy 2, or Nuada, etc.__ Sorry I've taken so long to update. I've been working on a drawing of Saraid--I plan to have a link for the picture up by Friday on my profile. I also intend to get the next chapter up quicker. We'll see how well that works out._

_Thanks to all my lovely reviewers-it really encourages me to write knowing all you guys read this._

* * *

Saraid stiffened as Andrea spoke those words, a chill running up her spine. Glancing at Nuada, she moved forward, between him and the human girl. Andrea was thirteen, one of the oldest children in the orphanage. Standing more than a foot shorter than Raid, it was easy for the hybrid to block Nuada from the girl's sight. "Andrea?" she spoke the girl's name softly. One of the reasons Raid kept coming back was because Andrea was gifted-she was able to see through illusions of all sorts, including lies. Additionally, occasionally she would speak of the future in obscure phrases.

"Raid!" The exclamation was muffled as the young teenager broke out of her strange trance and hugged Raid tightly. To her, Raid was like some sort of older sister. Looking up, Andrea grinned at the hybrid. While Saraid usually wore a glamour, Andrea knew exactly what she was, and a few of the other children had their suspicions. "You said you were busy-what with stopping that murdering exiled Prince, and stopping him from waking a mechanical army, but it sure took you long enough to defeat _two_ armies of invincible warriors."

.....

Nuada pushed aside the girl's earlier words, even though he could not help but think that there was a grain of truth—or possible truth—in them. He might kill Raid, if she stood in his way when he tried to wipe out the humans. Still, the girl was yet another thing he would have to ask Saraid about if he wanted any answers. The prince watched contemptuously as Andrea hugged Raid. Any immortal child would have better manners than that, and surely would have shown more decorum. As he reflected on how rude humans were even as children, he tuned in to their conversation.

Then the pieces began to fall into place. _Stopping that murderous exiled Prince… mechanical army… _Raid had been watching him, waiting to kill him. He assessed what he knew of her, and realized that it was actually very little. It seemed like he would remember her face if he had seen her before, but if she had been among the humans he wouldn't have really bothered looking.

It was time for answers that were actual answers, not misdirection. No more answering questions with questions for her. About ready to pull Raid away from Andrea so he could speak to her, the teen pulled away, turning to look at him. This time the hairs on the nape of his neck stood up. He wasn't sure how, but he knew that she knew what he was. Stranger yet was that she did not flinch at the dark coloring around the yellow eyes, or the deathly pale skin.

Walking around Raid, Andrea looked up into Nuada's face, hands on her hips, backwards. "You really hate humans, don't you?" she asked, lips pursed thoughtfully. Her eyes—green, he realized—underneath scarlet eyebrows were far sharper than most children, like she had seen too many things for her young age. A sneer started to curl his lips, before Nuada simply let his expression go flat, completely ignoring the girl. Anger sparked in those vibrant emerald eyes.

"Fine. Ignore me. Just proves my point. You are an arrogant Prince, no better than any human prince, except you're older." Her chin lifted in an aristocratic manner, as she managed to act like she was looking down her nose at him even though she was looking up. "You act like you are some sort of savior of the planet, but you're just a self-serving, haughty fey creature who thinks that you're better than all humans. I don't know why Raid just didn't kill you. Actually, it's because Raid doesn't like to kill if she can avoid it, unlike _you._" As Andrea spoke her voice edged up in volume, until she was almost shouting. A hand touched the teen on the shoulder, and jumping slightly, Andrea cast a guilty look at Saraid.

"That's quite enough for now," the hybrid said in a much quieter voice than Andrea. The girl's attitude changed suddenly, and she placed a hand on Raid's arm.

"Are you alright?" she asked, now sounding concerned. Throwing a quick hostile look over her shoulder at Nuada, Andrea began to steer Raid towards the door. "You should sit. You don't look so good. Besides, the others are all waiting for you."

Nuada watched the pair go through the doorway, making no motions to follow. The thoughts going through his mind were of blood and death, pain and destruction. It would be so easy to kill the humans in this place; there were no security guards, and most of the inhabitants of the building were children. It would alarm the humans too. They were always drawn to tragedies, like moths to a flame, and one as large as an orphanage full of dead children would draw many, and then fear would begin to dawn on them.

Yet he had made a deal with Raid. True, he had not exactly given her his word that he would not attack humans, but the promise was implied. As much as he could care less if he killed a few humans, his word was precious to him, and he would not lose his worth in the eyes of his enemies by breaking his promise, even if it was only implied, and even if he had given it to an abomination.

Two months. Two months and then he would be free to resume his quest, his crusade. And perhaps he could convince the hybrid to join him. Not that he wanted her fighting with them, but he had tasted a bit of her skill, and while he thought she should have died at birth, he would rather have her on his side then against him.

The hallway was getting cold. Rolling his shoulders to loosen up his muscles he pulled open the door that Raid and Andrea had walked through. He was greeted by a burst of warm air. The room was tall, and around the upper edge ran a balcony that had two staircases leading up to it, and then two more continuing upwards. A fire danced merrily in the great stone hearth set against the wall opposite the balcony. In front of the hearth sat Saraid, surrounded by children of all ages. She was reading a book, a fairytale of human origin, to the younglings gathered around her on the ground, and beside her on the couch. One small boy even sat in her lap, snuggling up against her.

Nuada watched the children, his thoughts momentarily turning to how peaceful they looked. They were only children after all; they weren't responsible for driving his race to a point of almost near extinction. They were innocent… right now. Later, later they would become the monsters that all humans were, destroying the earth with their machines and buildings, killing the animals with their pollutants and inability to act.

One girl, around the age of three, tugged on his hand. Nuada looked down, startled that one of the humans would dare to approach him, Prince Nuada Silverlance. Then he remembered the Raid had placed a glamour on him, and he probably didn't look even slightly strange to the children. Now she tugged again, more insistent this time. Large brown eyes stared up hopefully at him.

About to shake the child off, he was startled by someone saying his name. "Nuada." It was a gentle warning, and as Raid's eyes met Nuada's he realized that she would tolerate him attacking her, but being hurting a child was not tolerable. "Why don't you bring him over here Katie?" Raid asked the small girl. Smiling brightly, Katie tugged Nuada over to the couch, before pushing on his knees, obviously wanting him to sit down. Casting another glance at Raid, he saw her still watching him out of the corner of her eye. Glowering, the prince sat.

Without any further ado, Katie climbed up onto Nuada's lap, leaning against Raid. The only open spot had been next to the hybrid. The child, the _human_ child, climbing into his lap nearly did it. Promise or no, he was not going to allow some human to touch him. Anger flashed across his handsome features, and a few of the children shrank away. Hot air brushed over his ear and a hand gripped his arm tightly.

"Don't even think about it. You promised you would let me try to convince you that humans are worth letting live." A few stray strands of her hair brushed against his cheek, even as her breath caressed the pointed tip of his ear. "Would it kill you to smile? These are children, for gods' sakes. Just… pretend that they are elven children. If you can." The implied slight made Nuada bristle as she drew away. Again he had to wonder what had possessed him to agree to this foolishness of a deal. There was little he would gain even if he won.

Watching as Raid opened the book of fairy tales to the page she had been in the process of reading, he knew the answer. He was curious about Saraid, how such an abomination as her could have so much power. And… and there was something about her, the way that she did not let him have his way like so many did because he was royal. Neither friend nor foe, he truly could not understand her intentions or her motivation. She knew what he had been trying to do; yet she had brought him and Nuala back all the same.

The warmth of the fire and the soft, rhythmic pattern of her voice were starting to lull him to sleep. He was still exhausted from his return to life, and after a moment of hesitation he let his eyes droop closed.

......

Glancing sideways, a small smile lit up Raid's features. Nuada's eyes were closed and he looked to be asleep. Katie was curled up tightly against her arm and the elf's chest. Returning her attention to the book she continued to read, feeling herself relax as she did so. Perhaps her deal hadn't been so impulsive after all. Perhaps she really could convince Nuada. _And perhaps happy endings really do exist_, she thought, suddenly bitter. No, she could not envision this ending well.

.......

It seemed like only a few minutes later when Nuada opened his eyes, but the room had darkened, and the children had gone. Raid had tucked her feet up under her, staring into the glowing embers of fire as she brooded. Sitting up, he rolled his shoulders, feeling the muscles protesting from his sleeping in am unnatural position. "Feeling less like a stuck-up human hater by any chance?" she asked quietly, not looking at him.

Annoyance pricked Nuada. She wasn't even looking at him even as she spoke to him. When he failed to respond, Raid threw a glance at him, the hard set of his jaw enough of an answer for her. "We'll be going soon. Just one more story."

"Why? Why do you come and read these ridiculous tales that encourage foolish dreams and hopes and pervert the truth of the unseen people?" The frustration in his voice was there because he couldn't understand her and her motivation, and it was starting to needle him.

"Because everyone needs to dream about something, especially these kids. No one else gives a damn about them. Most of the humans have forgotten that these orphanages even exist, much less think about the occupants of them. " Her soft golden eyes met his, full of righteous anger and fierce defiance. "It isn't much, but I do what I can."

Before the prince could ask more of her, a door opened and Andrea slipped through, along with a few other of the older children. They took seats on the various mismatched armchairs and other pieces of furniture. Andrea's keen emerald eyes flicked to Nuada, her gaze hostile. She did not like the elven prince, but Raid trusted him, so she would too. That didn't mean she had to like him though.

Sitting up straight, Raid pulled a tooled leather book out from her coat. It was beautiful, the leather soft and worn, small jewels sewn into complex patterns. The leather was black, the jewels apache tears, a type of obsidian, and lapis lazuli. Brow furrowing, Nuada tried to think if he had seen the symbol embossed in gold on it before, and if so what it stood for. It was hard to tell what the design was in the first place, so often had it been rubbed.

Flipping open the book to where a silk ribbon held her place, the hybrid paused. "Are you sure you want to hear another story?" she asked, meeting each of the teenager's eyes. They all gave small nods of agreement. Sighing, she looked down from the page and began to read. Immediately Nuada knew that this wasn't some human fairytale; this was elven history.

The fact that she was reading elven history to human children made his lip curl back in derision. How she could do so was beyond him. But as he listened, he realized that he only vaguely recognized the tale. He had heard it, but never from this perspective. The way he and his sister had grown up knowing it, the guardswoman was deceptive and traitorous—she was the aggressor, the enemy, not the victim. This had something to do with Saraid, that much he knew as he realized that the book was hand-written, probably the only copy.

"Her name was Maylena, and she was one of the best warriors of the age. None had bested her in single-combat when she carried her chosen weapon, a scimitar forged of obsidian during the middle of a moonless night. Protecting the royal family was her job, her life, all she wanted to do. She was assigned as a personal guard to the prince, who paid little attention to his guards. To him, they were all the same faces, over and over.

One day, Maylena received a message from another guard as the prince prepared to enter his room. Startled by the sound of a female voice he looked around, before finally realizing that it was his guard who had spoken. That was the first time Prince Cian spoke to her." Against his will, Nuada soon found himself caught up in the tale. He listened, watching Raid's face carefully, looking for any indication that this was more than just a tale. There was nothing on her face, a perfect mask.

The tale went where the Prince fell in love with Maylena, though his parents were in the process of planning his wedding to another elven royal. Maylena tried to push him away at first, but then she gave in. For a short, brief time they were happy, but Maylena soon realized she was with child, and the Prince's betrothed felt threatened for the first time. So she had the guard dismissed, telling her that Cian wanted nothing to do with her. The royal elf, Hera, then told Cian that Maylena had left him, and wanted nothing to do with him.

"For nigh on three centuries the two had not seen each other. Only two people knew the truth of matters—Hera, and the chamberlain, who was a mutual friend of the Prince and Guard. The Prince became ill, and retreated from his people, leaving his wife and son in charge. The chamberlain then let slip that Maylena still lived, and that she had his children with her, for she had born twins.

Cian went to Maylena then, and Hera knew nothing of it for she cared not for Cian apart from his power. When she realized his betrayal, she took a squad of her own guards and went to the house. There she found Maylena, Cian, and their twins." Finally, there was a flicker of emotion, anger tautening the muscles of her jaw, ever so minutely. "Hera had them kill Cian first. Then she took the boy twin, and killed him with her own two hands. Finally she looked at Maylena, and the remaining twin, and spoke. 'You will be forever banned from this realm, an outcast. Your line will bear no sons to think to claim the throne. And you and your daughter will be hunted down for killing my husband.' Maylena, who had been restrained by several guards the entire time, was helpless as the words of the curse fell on her."

There was a gasp, and a girl raised her hand. "That's not fair! Hera lied! She's, she's-evil!" Raid looked up, eyes focusing on the girl.

"Not evil, no, just corrupt and power hungry." A sad smile twisted her lips. "And it isn't fair, but so much in life hardly is. Anyways, mother and daughter were exiled from the realm, and to this day their lineage remains unable to bear sons, and they are forever cursed to be outcasts of their people."

The children all looked troubled, except for Andrea. She was looking at Saraid with something that closely resembled pity but wasn't quite it. Understanding. Nuada looked back at the abomination, suddenly unsure. There was no way she could be of a royal elven bloodline. Impossible. And besides, that wasn't how the tale went. Maylena and her daughter had been killed for their treachery against Cian. They hadn't survived long after Hera had found them, and they had most certainly been on the wrong side of the law, especially after killing Cian.

A door opened, and a young woman looked in. There were bags under her eyes, but she smiled at Saraid, cautiously extending that smile to Nuada. "It's bed time. Besides, I think it's time Miss Saraid is getting home before it gets too late."

There was a chorus of complaints, but the children all got to their feet, saying their various goodbyes to Saraid as they filed out of the room. Andrea was the only one left after a moment. "Raid… Be careful. There's something out there, and it's after you. That, and you keep dangerous company." The girl shot Nuada one last glare before hurrying after the others, not wishing to be yelled at.

.......

Stretching, Raid got to her feet, subconsciously feeling for any threats around her. Nothing. Her eyes flicked to her companion as he too rose, quietly and with a grace that was definitely not human. "We should be going," she supplied, moving towards the door they had entered. Nuada, not wishing to spend any more time than what was required inside a building, followed closely on her heels.

........

Mrs. Havler looked up briefly, intent on wishing Saraid a good evening, when the words died in her throat. The two moved like two hunting panthers, lithe and graceful with an air of danger and power surrounding them. It was at once breathtaking and disturbing. A quick glance and small smile from Raid allowed her to find her tongue. "Thank you for stopping by, and have a good evening." Her smile was distracted, as her sharp and wise old eyes flicked to Nuada. There was something off about him, something that she just couldn't quite put her finger on…

.........

"I'll be seeing you soon, Mrs. Havler," Raid said, moving off again, knowing Nuada would follow her. Outside they both took a deep breath of the night air, tainted slightly by the smog of the city.

"How can you stand living here? Even the air the humans breathe is tainted." The distain in his voice made Raid sigh. Getting through to him would be nearly impossible. To do that, to make him see that not all humans deserved to die, would involve a change of his character, of who he was. Opening her mouth to speak, she was stopped by more questions from Nuada. This time the elven prince turned to face her, that stare of his looking past her. It was a subtle way he asserted his power, an unconscious thing where he appeared to look down on everyone and everything.

"I've never heard that tale told that way. Of course, it would interest me greatly to know where you got such a warped tale." The loftiness of his tones continued to irritate Raid further. Taking the only advantage she felt she really had, she moved forward, standing a scant few inches away from him. The prince wasn't used to people getting the close to him unless it was in battle. Most ran away from him, rather than coming to him.

"You can't truly know the truth of the matter unless you were there, and I don't believe you were. It's really not that important." Her soft warm breath brushed over his face, sweet smelling. Her eyes were sparking with that anger that he had seen so often in the past few hours. "What is important is the way you keep assuming that I'm inferior to you. I get it; you hate me, because I'm an abomination. But I did save your life. And while that might not ingratiate me to you, as I recall that you told Red to kill you or you would not stop your crusade against humans, remember that I also brought back your sister. I would greatly appreciate it if you could at least be civil."

It was frustrating, knowing that she had to ask anything of him. Normally Raid would just threaten or persuade, but neither would work here. Not with him. She was coming to realize that Nuada was more stubborn than even she was. "Look—I'm tired, and I need to rest. I… just think about those children. What have they done to you?" She started to turn away, was in fact walking away from him when she froze.

..........

It was a moment before he too caught it. The smell hit him like a blow, the rank smell of meat beginning to rot. Human meat. The abomination moved, running quickly to her vehicle. For a moment Nuada thought she meant to flee, but the next moment she was back out with her strange bow. She shrugged off her jacket, leaving her shoulders mostly bare. Nuada watched as she began to move out of the lot, bow held slightly in front of her. "What are you doing?"

Startled, Raid whirled, the bow rising to point straight at his throat. Seeing that it was only him she lowered her weapon, brushing her bangs behind her ears. "I'm going to see who or what killed that person. And if they're still around, then I'm going to get an explanation." She sounded so calm, and so composed, contrary to her quick reactions.

Nuada raised an eyebrow, disbelief on his face. "Why? What does it matter to you?" he asked. "They are just humans. So a few more are dead; I'm only sorry I wasn't able to kill them myself. They die quick enough anyways. Why involve yourself with them? You may an abomination, but you certainly aren't human, and humans reject and despise anything other than themselves."

"And there you go again, stereotyping and being a general nearsighted fool. I make it my business, especially when it's likely that one of the inhabitants of the unseen realm may have done the killing. As for why it matters; I value every life equally, but that doesn't mean I won't kill anyone who I think poses a threat. Now are you going to come or not?" It was only towards the end that irritation colored Raid's tone.

A smirk appeared on Nuada's face. "Are you saying that you defend and condone both those disgusting mortals and fae? How… pathetic. You really don't belong to either world, yet you try to belong to both."

.......

Anger boiled through the hybrid. Gritting her teeth Raid turned away, ignoring Nuada. It was stupid of her to expect an arrogant prince like that to understand anything she did. He had no compassion, no trace of humanity, she thought bitterly, wishing she had left him dead. But no. He was compassionate. She had seen that, she had seen the way he looked after his sister. Somewhere within him lay the vestiges of emotions that were not hatred and vengeance—she just had to find them. Time was running out. Two months now seemed like so little time, too little.

........

It was tempting to walk away, to leave the abomination and to resume his war on humanity. She had not tried to placate him, or throw herself at his feet. She acted like his equal in everyway. It had been a very long time since anyone had dared to consider themselves his equal, unless they were his enemy. Now this…Saraid… had changed that. Besides, he had given her his word. Hesitating no longer he followed the woman

She moved between the shadows, avoiding the light when possible. Gradually the smell was becoming more noxious as they neared the source of the stench. It was apparent that the bodies had been dead for a while. For a brief moment the clouds parted, revealing a sliver of moonlight that added strange shadows and highlights to the street. Stopping, Raid bent down to examine a dark pool of liquid. Nuada hung back, not wishing for her to know that he was following her rather than waiting back at the vehicle. When she moved forward, moving more in a crouch, he approached the puddle. The deep red was unmistakably blood, thick and congealing, almost black on the street.

Looking up Nuada realized that he had lost sight of Raid. One hand reached down and removed his spear from where he had concealed it while in the orphanage. Raid had thought he left it in the vehicle, but had missed how at the last second he had stowed it under the jacket he wore. Holding the shortened form of his weapon he moved along the front of the closed and shuttered stores until he rounded the corner that he had thought she went around.

There she was, the sickly yellow of the streetlight making her skin seem unhealthy. Hanging from the post were three bodies, badly mutilated. Two were undeniably human, but the third did not look to be exactly human. Forgetting Raid, the elven prince moved into the street, trying to discern what the third body was. Hanging from a length of woven rope swung the burned body of a dryad.

Something flew by him, jerking his attention away from the body. Automatically the spear came up, his left hand already twisting it to make it extend. Two dark brown eyes flared at him, behind a taught bowstring. "Damn it all, I asked if you were coming with me for a reason!" Saraid hissed, not loosing the bowstring at all. Glancing over his shoulder, Nuada saw an arrow shaft buried deep in the wood of a telephone pole. Looking back to the woman, he watched as slowly the smoldering anger left her eyes to be replaced by careful emptiness.

"Next time it _will _be your head." Nuada ignored her mutterings as she unstrung her bow, stowing it over her back.

.........

"Who did this?" he asked, voice hard, full of steel. Surprised by his tone, Raid looked at him, really taking the time to examine his face. His jaw was taught with suppressed fury, and she saw the way his hands clenched tightly on the spear trembled slightly, as if wishing to send the weapon through someone's flesh. She had expected him to say something about how he didn't have to answer to her, not ask about the bodies. Glancing up, Raid reiterated that thought; he only cared about the body of the dryad.

"I've got no fucking idea," she said, slipping a small dagger from her boot, before slipping her boots off. Next she set her bow down, followed by her socks. Placing the flat of the blade between her teeth, Raid began to climb the pole, ignoring the sense of burning cold coming in through her palms and the soles of her feet. Sweat dripped into her eyes as she neared the bend where the bodies were strung. Pulling on the dregs of her reserves, Raid managed to get on top of the bend, taking a deep breath.

Taking the dagger from her mouth, she looked down at the elven prince. "What I do know is that when I find them, they will die. I don't care what they think they're doing—dryads are peaceful. They don't cause any harm, except occasionally to the unwary man, and then it isn't exactly harm. Now move." With a quick stroke the first rope was severed, but not before Raid caught it. Hooking the back of her knees over the bar she leaned backwards, extending her body as much as possible without falling. That the left the body a few feet above the ground, close enough that it wouldn't be damaged too much by the fall. Quickly she repeated the procedure with the other bodies, before swinging back up to a sitting position.

"This is the third time I've found bodies like this, sixth of heard of." Her voice was almost conversational as she sat on top of the pole, looking out into the night, lit with lights in the more residential and highly trafficked areas. Sighing, she tossed the dagger towards her stuff, not wishing to have the taste of the rope and blood in her mouth. Placing her hands on the bar, she let herself fall, dangling by her arms from the pole. She wasn't expecting the sudden weariness that hit her, and she realized that she was too tired to keep pushing her body now. Her sweaty palms began to slip on the bar. Struggling not to fall, Raid's arms began to tremble with exertion. If she fell now, she was going to seriously hurt herself, because there was no way she would be able to land properly, exhausted as she was.

As she felt her hands slip, the hybrid closed her eyes, not wanting to see the ground come rushing towards her.

.....

He hadn't realized she was falling, actually falling rather than jumping until she closed her eyes. Even then he hadn't intended on moving. She had not asked for his help, and it sounded like she had done this before. But then he had reacted, without conscious thought.

........

Opening her eyes as she felt herself caught, Saraid found herself looking into Nuada's face. It was he who had prevented her from hitting the hard pavement. She blinked, unsure if she was imagining things.

Nuada stared right back at her, her own surprise mirrored on his face. Raid started to open her mouth to speak, but found no words would come. She was too shocked that he had actually helped her, while he thought her an abomination. As if realizing he was still holding her, he suddenly dropped her onto her feet. Feeling the world spinning around, Raid grasped his shoulder tightly, until she was able to stand on her own. "I… thanks."

She couldn't interpret the look Nuada gave her, as he turned silently away to examine the bodies.

...........

He didn't know why he had caught her. It was reaction, pure and simple, but that wasn't all of it. And then when he had held her there, the surprise and vulnerability on her face had surprised him. She had thought he would let her drop to the pavement, and while he had intended not to interfere, he still didn't like that Raid thought she had him figured out. The frustrating part was that he couldn't understand her either. First fierce, then gentle, then some strange mix of the two.

Looking down at the bodies, he realized he had no idea what to look for, or even if there was anything to look for. Again his thoughts turned to how light she had felt in his arms. She had been cold too, freezing. Glancing out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed even now that she had goosebumps on her skin from the chill. Gritting his teeth in annoyance at her lack of ability to take care of herself, he took off his own jacket and roughly hung it on her shoulders

Raid turned to him, confusion in her eyes. This wasn't like the elven prince, not at all. "It does me no good if you freeze or get sick while I am still bound to you. I am not a nursemaid." he told her icily. The last thing he wanted her thinking was that he might actually care what happened to her, because he didn't.

"Thank you. Again." She had already turned back to the bodies when he finally looked back towards her face, and he was glad. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had thanked him for anything. He was used to hearing pleas, from his victims, and from his sister. But it had been centuries since anyone had shown his gratitude. The strange emotions in him were unsettling, and he pushed them away, now angry at the abomination for bringing forth such emotions.

"Don't. I have no concerns for you, abomination, beyond myself." Raid merely shrugged, a small smile twisting her lips up as she let her hair fall forward to conceal her face from Nuada. It was then that they both heard the far of sound of sirens.

* * *

_Finally, the third chapter! As always, reviews are appreciated, especially constructive criticism. Hope you enjoyed it. And next chapter I will add a bit more about Nuala, and the BPRD... _


	4. The BPRD

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Hellboy 2 or any of the characters or places associated with it. I think we all know that. _**

_Finally an update. Hopefully the next will be up sooner than this one was in comparison to the last one. As always thank you so much to by reviewers, and sorry for the long wait. I hope it was worth it. Reviews are always appreciated, especially ones with constructive criticism and encouragement. Okay, so pretty much any review is really appreciated. _

* * *

Saraid swore in troll, whirling away from the bodies, before suddenly pausing. The sirens were only barely audible to her ears… that meant that Nuada had heard them before she had, and hadn't told her. He was a pureblooded elf, which meant his hearing was keener than hers, as she was only a half-elven.

They were going to have a talk later. Now she was in motion again, grabbing her clothes and bow. "We need to go. Now." Her voice was clipped as she hastily dragged on her boots, minus the socks. There was a little time to spare before the police got here, but not enough to dispose of the bodies. People would start hearing the sirens before the cars showed up, and the last thing Raid wanted right now was a bulletin about her, or a bullet in her. Anonymity was one of her greatest weapons, and one she valued greatly.

"And we are just going to leave her body here for the humans to take care of?" Nuada asked, voice a low hiss of anger. The humans had no idea how to properly bury a dryad. More than likely they would incinerate her body, assuming she was another human, and if they thought she wasn't human… they would cut open her body, examine it with their electronic equipment.

"We don't have time to do anything. I can claim the body later, but now we have to go!" Raid hissed back, trying to calculate how long they had to make themselves scarce. She saw the stubborn set of Nuada's jaw, and silently cursed him. Now was not the time to start another fight. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at her. "If we stay we'll be caught by the humans."

"No human has ever caught me, and no human ever will. I would relish a chance to kill them. I will not leave a fae's body to a human. It is disgraceful and shameful." His voice was cold but also full of pride.

He could be so frustrating. Not even a full day into their agreement, and already Raid was considering telling him to just get lost. Then again, she couldn't turn him loose on the humans without trying to stop him first. As for the Unseen people, she pitied them too. What would life be like with such a rash leader? "No. You listen to me, and actually think. If we stay, we have to surrender to the humans, because if you attack them, then so help me, _I _will attack _you_. Those humans are just trying to do their jobs."

........

"Later I can go and claim the body. They won't have any next of kin listed, and I have enough contacts to ensure that they will release her body to me. Then we can give her a proper burial. Right now though, we need to go back to the car before they show up," Raid said, her voice sounding strained. The anger was back, burning bright in her eyes, Nuada noticed. Yet again he was forcibly reminded of the deal he had struck with the abomination.

Fine. She had won this argument. He didn't feel like fighting her and the humans right now, and if he attracted the police's attention, then undoubtedly the BPRD would be all over him again, which was not what he wanted. Coming back from the dead was unexpected, and gave him an advantage… except they must know he was alive, because his sister was. Nuala… he couldn't read her. There was a strong barrier in place between the twins that had never been there before.

It was true enough that in exile they had drifted apart, and usually he could only get the faintest glimmerings of her feelings, but he had still been able to read her when he really tried. Now all he got was that she was in this city, but he had no idea where.

He didn't even realize they were at the car until Raid spoke. "Are you going to get in or stand there all night?" she asked, voice clipped. Absently Nuada got into the car, this time figuring out the seatbelt for himself. The car was not an invention he liked, due to the feeling of being encased in a metal tomb, but he supposed it was the only way for the slow moving humans to get from place to place.

.......

Raid had won this argument, but what about the next one? Brooding, the half-elf sat in the driver's seat for a moment, keys in hand. Nuada was difficult. Was it really worth so much? Of course it was. If she could convince Nuada, it would save countless lives, human and fae. This was the right thing to do… it was just frustrating.

"I want to see my sister." No sooner had she put the key in the ignition then Nuada made his statement. Biting her lip in thought, Raid started the car, ignoring the Prince. Taking him to the BPRD seemed like a very bad idea at first, but perhaps she could find some allies there. Not Manning, but Liz, or Abe. Hellboy she didn't trust to be reasonable enough, but perhaps the others could assist her.

The thought of someone taking part of the responsibility was very appealing, and dangerously tempting. It would be nice to have some help… but that was not the way things worked. As her mother, and her grandmother, and the women of her family before her had done, she would do this by herself, or not at all.

"What, now? It's nearly midnight, and it's been a fairly long day. Are you sure you want to go crawling through some airshaft to see your sister for five minutes, then come crawling back out?" It wasn't even worth the effort to try and conceal her tiredness. True, she could continue without sleep for up to a week, but the time she took to recover after that was time she did not have to spare right now.

"It is not that difficult to get in. I have done so before." Raid gritted her teeth as she impatiently turned right, ignoring the red light. Already she was thinking of how to get into the building with minimal injuries to the staff. Before she had only gone to the gate, dropping off Nuala and her note, not actually going into the building itself.

"Fine. But we are not killing any of the employees, human or otherwise. Or critically injuring them. If you can manage it, I would like to get in and out without being seen." They were on the freeway now, and Nuada raised a hand to shield his face from the lights of the other vehicles, until his sensitive eyes had adjusted.

"If one of them gets in my way-" Nuada started, only to be cut off by an extremely irate Raid.

"You'll do nothing. Absolutely nothing. You won't touch them." Shooting a glare towards the elven prince, she cut across the lanes of traffic, earning a chorus of horns and fingers. Seeing the last of the drivers that she had cut off flipping her off suddenly made her laugh. Seeing the look Nuada was giving her, she started to explain, glad of the subject change.

"I was there when that started… well, I might have had a little something to do with it. It didn't mean what humans think it means now. It was something I did after a battle against the French. I was fighting with the english longbow men. The French had a habit of cutting of archer's middle fingers, to prevent us from shooting our bows. Well, we had won, and still had our fingers, and I thought I could rub it in their faces by showing them what they missed. Now humans 'flip' each other off, with no idea what they really say…" Trailing off, she glanced at Nuada, briefly taking her gaze off the road. He was looking out the window, and Raid wondered if he had even heard a word she said, or if he even cared. Great. Now she was rambling nervously.

Shaking her head, the half-elf turned her attention back to the road. The next few minutes passed in silence, neither one wanting to be the first to speak, nor did either of them have anything to say. Finally, Raid pulled the van to the side of the road, down the street from a 'waste' facility. "So how do we do this?" Raid asked, looking at Nuada.

"It would easier if I went in alone." Nuada unbuckled quickly, eager to get out of the car.

"Not a chance in hell." Raid's reply didn't surprise the elf, and he just shrugged. At least there would be someone else for the humans to shoot at, which meant Nuada could focus on Hellboy.

"Then we shall travel through the air ducts. And if you can not keep up, then I suggest you just stay here." Voice icy, he glanced over at Raid, watching as she grabbed bow, and hesitated, before pulling a blanket over it. Fingering the edge of the blade on his own weapon, he felt his heart begin to race. The prospect of a fight was intoxicating, and he desperately wanted to fight the demon again, only so he could once again prove that Hellboy was nothing. "Leave it," Raid warned, and reluctantly Nuada left the blade in the seat.

That wasn't going to be the case this time. Somehow, he doubted he would be able to shake Raid long enough to get into any real fights, and even if he did, he would probably end up having to fight Raid again, besides being without his favored weapon. "Well, let's get going then. I'd rather not be here by the time the sun's up," Raid said, crossing her arms over her chest.

..........

Several minutes later, after Nuada and Raid were out of sight of the van, Andrea sat up. She was going to be in so much trouble when Raid found her, but it would be worth it. At first she hadn't actually meant to sneak out, but one of the boys had dared her to, and then she had impulsively hidden in Raid's car. Now she was at the BPRD, whatever that was.

The teenager nimbly climbed over the back seat, reaching out to flip the lock open. A shimmer of silver caught her eye, and curious, she lifted up the blanket. A surprised 'oh' slipped from her lips as she gazed upon a beautiful longbow tipped with blades, and a weird spear shaped blade attached to a short handle. Carefully covering the weapons with the blanket once more, Andrea slipped out of the car.

She had always known that there was something un-human about Saraid. It wasn't bad, but sometimes Saraid would start talking about things hundred of years ago, like she was there. And then there was the strange aura around her. No, Andrea was not surprised much to find such weapons in Raid's vehicle. Such things had ceased to surprise her as much when it came to Raid.

Looking around, she noticed that there were no houses or lights around, apart from up the road. Feeling more cautious, she slipped into the edge of the tree, walking forward, attempting to be stealthy. Every couple of steps though, the teenager paused to wince and pray no one had heard that twig snap or this rustle of leaves; her silent progress was not as silent as she had hoped for.

The glare of spotlights over her eyes caused Andrea to stumble, running her shoulder into a small tree. Blinking, she was left seeing after-spots as the spotlight continued swinging across the area. Covering her eyes with one hand, Andrea squinted at the building. The sign said sewage treatment plant, but if that was sewage treatment plant, then she was a flying horse. Inside a tall iron gate patrolled several guards with German Shepherds, and there was a pillar with a bowl holding flame in it.

Suddenly her lips were dry, and she swallowed, trying to bring some moisture back into her mouth. This did not seem like such a good idea right now. Licking her chapped lips, the teenager started to back up, fervently wishing that she were still within the relative safety of the confines of the car. Unfortunately for her, she never made it that far, running backwards into something large, solid, and _alive_.

......

Gritting her teeth, Saraid continued to painstakingly loosen the screws of the air duct. Nuada had suggested kicking it out, but drawing attention to themselves was very low on the to do list. Feeling the screw loosen all of a sudden, Raid swore and tried to get a stronger grip. With a sharp clang, the metal grill hit against the floor of the infirmary room as it slipped from her , Raid scooted past the opening, before dropping down feet first. So much for sneaking around quiet like a mouse.

The sole occupant of the infirmary wing looked up at the loud sound, surprise and confusion written all over her features. This was no elf she knew, and the modern dress ran contrary to anything she had seen other elves wear.

Propping herself up more, Nuala arranged a pillow so she could sit upright more comfortably and leaned back. "Good evening, traveler," she greeted, courteous but not friendly. Raid ignored the princess, looking at the air duct, counting in her head. When she reached four a lithe shadow dropped from the duct, landing with only a soft noise. Snorting, Raid turned back to Nuala, whose eyes had gotten big.

Nuada brushed by Raid, hardly seeming aware of her at all. His gaze was fixed solely on his twin sister, his beloved other half. "Sister," he whispered quietly, voice cold. Well did he remember the sensation of the blade plunging into his chest, knowing that his sister had chosen death for both of them over seeing the demon or the fish-man killed.

Nuala's gaze briefly flicked to Raid's face, eyes full of questions, before returning her gaze to her brother. "I am glad to see you alive, brother. But I must ask if you still intend to wage war on the humans." There were tears lingering in the corners of her eyes, as she awaited his answer.

"While I am sure he desires nothing else than to wipe out all humans, he has a deal with _me_." Raid stepped forward, a silent challenge in her eyes as she dared Nuada to contradict her statement. The elven prince met her gaze with a fierce contempt, but he said nothing, choosing to turn his attention back to his sister.

"I can not do otherwise, sister. Not while the humans still kill our people and poison our land. " His voice was flat as he spoke, almost as if he regretted his choice… but, Raid reasoned, it was likely because it was the opposite of what his dear twin wanted to hear.

"But what is this deal you have made then?" Nuala asked, confusion written across her delicate features. Examining her, Raid came to the conclusion that the princess was a sheltered creature, who was young and idealistic, but also one who knew her duty and took her responsibilities seriously.

"I… she is the one responsible for bringing us back. I have agreed to wait two months before resuming my war on the humans. During that period of time, she wishes to see if she can make me—"

"I want to show you that not all humans are evil. That you don't have to deal with this problem by killing all of them." The half-breed interrupted his sentence smoothly, giving Nuada a sweet smile when he turned an icy glare on her. Then her smile vanished. "And Nuada is to try and show me why the humans should die, and if he convinces me, then I will fight beside him."

"Though it should not need convincing to show you the corruptness of these humans. Besides, I am not sure I would trust such an abomination as you to do what is necessary." The cold edge to his voice made the hybrid's blood boil. What was with the elven prince?! Couldn't he pretend he didn't hate her guts for five minutes? At this rate, Raid wasn't going to make through a week with him, much less two months.

"Then you still go to war." The despair and resignation in Nuala's voice raised goosebumps on Raid's bare arms. It was one thing to think about a full-scale war of fae versus mortal, but to talk about it like it was inevitable… Was it so hopeless to try to deter the prince from the path he was currently walking on? Frowning, the hybrid's focus shifted to her own thoughts, as she became oblivious to the other two occupants of the room.

......

"Come away with me sister. You do not need to stay imprisoned within this place, trapped within these concrete walls, cut off from nature and our home." Nuada's voice held the barest traces of pleading, though outwardly he displayed no signs of how much he wanted his twin to leave this place. It felt like a betrayal for her to stay here—another betrayal. She had already shown that she valued humans' lives over his.

The resentment on his face made Nuala reach out one delicate hand for her twin. "Brother please do not—" Nuala was cut off as Raid suddenly bolted upright from her seat, cursing loudly.

"Damn it! Nuada, we need to go now!" Grabbing the chair she had been sitting in, Raid quickly moved to the infirmary door, placing the chair under the handle. "This won't hold them long," she hissed over her shoulder.

Nuada stiffened at Raid tone of voice. He didn't take orders from anyone, especially an abomination like her. Nuala's face fell as she saw her brother's dangerous expression. "Please, go now," she pleaded in her soft voice.

......

"Why? I am not going to run away from _humans_," Nuada declared, injecting the word human with enough venom to make Raid shiver slightly. Regaining her composure she stepped between the siblings, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We had a deal. Are you going to follow it, or do I add the title of Oathbreaker to Exile, Crown Prince, and Silverlance?" the hybrid asked, voice level. There was a dangerous glint in her eyes that Nuada had seen when he had challenged her in her weapon's room. Anticipating his next retort, she cut him off. "And yes, you go first. I just do not trust you, for some reason."

Glowering at her, the prince reached for his weapon, momentarily forgetting that he didn't have it. Teeth grinding together, he turned towards the vent as the door shuddered. "Hurry up!" Raid exclaimed, eyeing the door with trepidation. With a grace that would have made any cat enviable, Nuada jumped up, catching the lip of the vent with his hands and pulling his body up through it in one fluid motion. He didn't spare a glance back for his twin, even though he could feel the waves of sorrow and pain coming off her. She still loved him, but she had made her choice and he had made his.

The noise of metal hitting metal caused him to growl as the noise hit his sensitive ears. Flipping around in the small space took him a moment, and while doing so he heard more oaths from below. Pulling himself to the lip of the vent he looked down at the vent cover. "Take it already, damn you!" Raid snarled, eyes flicking between Nuada and the door. Nuada's eyes narrowed as he realized what she was doing.

"If you are staying—" he started to say, but Raid cut him off again.

"Listen to me! Go back to the car. I'll get out, but if they catch you… I do not want a blood bath. Now get!" Nuada was startled by the look of what he thought was concern flash across her face as she talked. Reluctantly Nuada took the grate, holding it while Raid hastily screwed the bolts back in. Stepping off the chair she had been using, she pushed it up against the wall, turning around just as the door crumpled inwards.

......

Nuada was irritated and fuming. He felt like he was being treated like a child. On the one hand, he could still go and fetch his weapon, return and get Raid out of this mess. But then that brought up the question of why he wanted to save Raid at all. A sigh of annoyance came from him, as he realized that would violate the deal he had made with Raid, if he fought any of the humans.

Still, he was not going to follow her orders like some dog. He was Prince Nuada Silverlance, and she had no right in ordering him around. Looking through the grate, he prepared himself to watch. He told himself he wasn't waiting for Saraid, and that if anything he was staying because it was the opposite of what she told him to do. Surely now Raid would betray him to the humans; she was part human, and knew did not understand loyalty, just like the other humans.

..........

The first human through the door already had his gun up, and quickly trained it on her. The next two entered more cautiously, looking around the room warily. All they saw was the elven princess and the stranger. Nothing seemed out of place. "Oh please, you aren't going to shoot me, so put the gun down," Raid snapped, irritated that she was even in this position. It had been foolish to come here in the first place, but she had felt that she owed Nuada that much.

The agent was startled by the tone of the voice of the woman he confronted, but the gun never wavered. "All clear," the female agent called through the broken doorway. Carefully picking his way over the debris of the door came Manning.

"Yes, yes, um, very good," he said, distracted by a piece of wood that had caught on his pant leg, Finally breaking free of the sliver of wood with a tearing noise, Manning took a look at the intruder, and felt a little tremor of fear and indecision go through him. Raid's gaze was icy and edged with irritation, a scowl etched on her lips, and her hands crossed over her chest.

"Oh, um, err…" Manning tripped over his tongue, trying to find suitable words.

"Saraid! Oh my, I never thought when you said we would meet that you meant here!" Everyone's focus shifted to the blue-skinned creature that next stepped through the doorway. Abe tilted his head, examining the hybrid. "You are a great deal… taller than I imagined," he commented, noticing also the amount of scars that hadn't been apparent in the vision she had given him.

Raid's expression softened to a careful politeness as she inclined her head towards the psychic. "It was not my intention to meet here either, but I had pressing matters to discuss with the princess," she said smoothly, ignoring everyone else.

"What the hell is another elf doing here? I thought we got rid of the last nosy one," grumbled Hellboy as he walked through the debris, Liz following closely behind, trailed in turn by none other than Johann Krauss.

A sardonic smile twisted Raid's lips as she looked at the motley assembly. "Such an interesting welcoming party," she commented, eyes glinting dangerously as she noticed that now Manning had a gun trained on her too. "For the love of Gaia! If I wanted any of you dead, you would already be dead, and I would not be unarmed," she snarled through gritted teeth. Nuada had already sorely tried her patience today, and the meaningless posturing with the weapons was about to use whatever patience she had left.

"Manning, lower the gun and call off your hounds. She's not acting hostile, and she hasn't hurt anyone." Liz's voice was a balm to Raid's irritation, and she flashed the pyrokinetic a brief smile.

Manning's hand wavered, though it had more to do with the fact that he was tiring from holding the gun on Raid. "She broke into here. She's been here before, and caused two of my agents to be out for two days and a third for a week. Besides, she's not human. Her reasons behind her actions are not apparent, so she can't be trusted."

That was enough. Raid's temper flared, and she stepped forward quickly, startling the agent who was closest to her. Quickly she knocked the gun from his grasp with a sharp blow to his wrist, then moved onto Manning, seizing the barely of the handgun and snapping her wrist so Manning lost his grip. All this happened in a scant few seconds, and as the other two official agents raised their guns to aim at the hybrid, she casually tossed the gun to the floor, never sparing a glance at the agents who now had her targeted.

"Like I said—if I meant you harm, you would be dead," Raid said, voice cold. This human was not only incompetent, but had all the diplomacy of a charging rhinoceros. "Now if you would like to talk like a civilized person without pointing weapons in my face, perhaps I will answer your questions."

Manning gaped like a fish on dry land, and before he could find anything to say, Hellboy let out a booming laugh. "Ha! She got ya there, Manning," he said, pulling out a cigar from his pocket.

"Wait a second—no smoking in here!" Manning exclaimed, his attention momentarily diverted from the intruder.

Realizing all the humans were distracted, Raid quickly risked a glance towards the vent, and ground her teeth together in frustration, her keen ears picking up on the heartbeat coming from it. Was no one listening to a word she said? Really, it was getting old. Manning's walkie-talkie beeped, and her blood went cold as she heard the words coming from the tiny speaker. Everyone one else seemed distracted—Abe was talking to Nuala, Hellboy and Manning were arguing, the agents, Liz, and Johann were watching the exchange, and no one seemed to hear the walkie-talkie.

_"Mr. Manning, we've caught an intruder, a teenager human appearing female. We're bringing her down to the infirmary for now. You should take a look at this. Repeat. We're coming down to the infirmary with a intruder, a female teenager…" _A loud thumping drowned the rest of the words out. Dimly, Raid recognized that the thumping was only her own heartbeat, but that thought was pushed to the back of her mind. There was one thought that came to mind—Andrea.

No. Andrea was safe in the orphanage. It had to be some other teenage girl who approached a strange looking 'waste treatment plant'. Andrea was not here. How could she be? Raid was overreacting; there was nothing to—

"Let me go! I haven't done anything wrong! I know my rights, and you can't hold me without cause! I wasn't even on the premises, and you aren't the police!" That voice was one she would know anywhere. Suddenly oblivious to all else, Raid started forward only to have the air knocked out of her as she hit the floor. Surprised, she blinked up at the agent who had her pinned to the floor. He was shouting something, but what was he saying? It didn't matter, Andrea was here, and in trouble…

"Get. Off. Me. Now." Each word was delivered in a slow and threatening tone that left no room for compromise. The agent hesitated, unsure of what to do. That decision was taken away from him as Raid twisted her body, throwing the agent off of her. Quickly getting to her feet, Raid started towards the door, only to be again confronted with the barrel of a pistol.

"Get back ma'am. You haven't given use reason to shoot you yet, but right now I don't think any of us would be sorry if the weapon misfired," the female agent said levelly. Raid met the woman's gaze, and seeing the determination there, raised her hands in surrender. She really hated guns, especially when they were being turned on her.

Stepping back, Raid cast a glance at Abe, a silent plea for help in her eyes. Abe looked confused, but Nuala pulled him down and whispered something in his ear. Nodding in understand, Abe made his way over to the hybrid. "I can watch her from here, Agent Rowan." The female agent looked reluctant to turn away, but she did lower her gun and back away, turning around to look through the doorway. Cautiously Abe placed a hand on Raid's shoulder.

......

He was suddenly assaulted with images of a girl, lively green eyes dancing in a round-face that was starting to lose its roundness as she aged. Red curls hung to shoulders, and hands were always moving as she talked. The emotions were of a maternal/sisterly love, but also fear, fear for her, not of her. And then Raid spoke to him through the connection. _She's here! I don't know how or why, but I need to get her out of here! I-I don't want to hurt anyone, but if they get in my way… I will do what I have to do._

Withdrawing his hand from her shoulder, Abe looked at the hybrid, and felt a chill breeze run over his skin. She was undeniably dangerous, and probably capable of fighting her way out of here. At what cost that would come if it came to that though, Abe was unsure of. What he also knew was that Raid would do anything to protect the girl—Andrea.

.......

"Raid!" Seeing the half-elf okay made Andrea feel giddy with relief. With a sudden burst of strength she tore herself away from the agent who had been holding her, and threw herself past the others and onto Raid, hugging her fiercely. "I'm so sorry! I know I wasn't supposed to come, but the boys dared me, and you always promised that one day I would get to come along, and then I thought you might be in trouble, but then I saw all the guards and got scared, because you were in there and I didn't know what was going on, and then they caught me when I was trying to go back to your car, and then they dragged me down here, even thought _I_ didn't do _anything_ wrong at all, and then I saw you and now—"

"Slow down! We can talk about this later, but you are going to be in so much trouble missy. You know better than this. Or so I thought." The disapproval in Raid's tone made Andrea bow her head as she stepped back, biting her lip. Then she looked up, eyes sparkling again.

"But I knew it! I knew that you weren't human! I knew that you weren't just making those tales up. They're real! And that last one—she's like your great-great-great-grandmother or something! So that means your royalty!" Andrea almost jumped up and down as she said the last part, just having put those pieces together. Of course, now it all made perfect sense. Raid's face went white, her whole body going tense.

"That is enough, Andrea." The chill voice coming from Raid made Andrea take a step back, her eyes going wide as she realized she had stepped over some invisible line. Taking a deep breath, Raid made her body relax. Now she looked up, the whole gathering—five agents, Manning, Hellboy, Liz, Abe, Nuala, Andrea, Johann, and hidden, Nuada—looking at her. Manning's mouth was moving, but no sound was coming out, for which the hybrid was glad. She didn't know how much more of that man's talk she could take.

"Please forgive me, but I need to take Andrea back, before Mrs. Havler becomes worried." The voice was cold, but underneath it lay a undercurrent of anger reflected in her eyes.

"Wait a second… Mrs. Havler. That name… she was one of the witnesses questioned about the fae bodies we found burned. " The female agent looked at Raid, assessing the half-breed. This woman certainly had the strength to kill those two humans and the dryad. It would have been easy for her, and her attitude so far led the agent to believe that Saraid was perfectly capable of killing them.

"I think, sir, we should keep her for questioning. We can send a team to take Andrea back to the orphanage. But I think she—" the agent gestured at Raid with her gun, as if she wasn't being clear enough already—"should stay. I don't trust her, or like her looks."

Raid moved instinctively in front of Andrea, placing herself between the guns and the girl. Her eyes met the agent's, and the hostility radiating off this woman made Raid frown. Closing her eyes, she reached out psychically, able to read the woman from the short distance away just by the strength of her emotions. Eyes snapping open, Raid found another way her staying of her hand in killing Nuada had hurt this woman. "Your husband was killed by the forest god that Nuada unleashed. I'm sorry-"

"Don't. Say. You're. Sorry." The woman's voice shook with rage, and the gun she still had pointed at Raid wavered as her body trembled with her emotions. "You didn't even know him, or anything about him. But from what I've heard, you're responsible for bringing back that monster. Only another monster would bring back that murderer. What kind of heartless creature are you? Pretending that you care about humans—you're type doesn't give a damn!"

"My type?" Raid laughed, a hollow sound that unnerved the humans. "I have no 'type'," she growled. "The elves won't take me because I'm half-human. The humans won't take me because I'm half-elven. The other fae won't accept me because—" Raid stopped, looking away. Finally she looked back, her eyes empty of emotion. "I have no 'type'. I serve neither human nor fae. I kill, and I save. I'm not good, but I sure as hell am not evil. I don't have the same inhibitions as most humans, but I would never do something that would endanger innocent lives on purpose. Nor do I kill when it can be avoided."

Taking a breath, Raid met the female agent's gaze until she looked away. Then she looked at the rest of them—humans and not, except for Nuala. Silently she held her hand out to Abe. Reaching out, he touched her cold hand with his webbed fingers. "She's telling the truth. Not everything, but she hasn't lied at all. And-oh my." Abe blinked, looking up at Raid as he withdrew his hand. "I'm so sorry. That must-"

"Please don't. I don't want your sympathy." Raid's voice was softer now, but weary too.

Manning finally had come up with an idea that he was sure would work. "You can go—but you have to help us find who is responsible for burning the bodies that we found. And if you try to run, we will find you, and we won't be so kind next time we meet."

Raid arched one eyebrow, but decided against her first scathing response. "That was already what I was doing," she murmured quietly, looking like she was somewhere else.

"Yes, well…" Manning struggled to come up with some new limit on Raid, and found one. "You must have some lead by next week. And stay out of the newspapers!" he added, already thinking of what trouble Hellboy would get into if he gave the demon this assignment.

"One: I don't work for you. Two: I have a rather more important matter. You know I brought Nuala and Nuada back from the dead. Well, Nuada has unfinished business that involved in wiping out all of humanity. In two months time either all hell will break loose, or nothing will happen. It all depends." Liz frowned at Raid, seeing something on the hybrid's face. Confusion, worry, tenderness-and a fear that the tenderness would make her weak, would make her fail. A fear that the object of her affections would be her downfall. Liz knew that expression, had seen it on her own face and Nuala's too, but she couldn't understand why that expression was on Raid's face.

"Manning, let her go. It's late, and it's not like your so incompetent that you couldn't find her, I'm sure," Liz said, voice cool. Manning sighed and made a shooing gesture at everyone.

"Back to your posts. And you—remember your deadline. Come on folks, let's go!" he called, hustling the others out of the infirmary first. Without another word to Nuala, Raid grabbed Andrea's arm and left.

........

Nuala looked up at Abe. "My brother is still intent on war—but he and Raid made a bet."

"I know—Raid showed me." Abe's hand gripped Nuala's tighter as he looked down at her, worry on his features. "Promise me you won't do anything like last time.

Nuala sighed, covering Abe's hand with her free hand. "I can't promise that Abe. If—if I can stop the war with my death-"

"She's already brought you two back from death once, so she could probably do it again." Abe blinked, his large eyes full of uncertainty. Having Nuala back was still so new with him, just as knowing her was new—but he didn't think he could deal with losing her again. It would just be too cruel.

"So in other words we are hoping that my brother will have a change of heart in order to save humankind," Nuala said, a smile twisting her lips up.

"I suppose that's one way of looking at it, yes," Abe agreed, smiling shyly in return at the elven princess.

"I think—it just might be possible. If Nuada finds something—or someone to help him change his mind. I think—I think maybe he has already," Nuala said quietly, thinking about the way Nuada and Raid had reacted to each other—both threatening each other, but neither actually taking action, which was quite unlike him. "Perhaps she can do what I could not."

.......

Outside Raid ignored the guards. She hadn't spoken since leaving the infirmary, and neither had Andrea. The teenager walked along quietly beside the half-elf, eyes focused on the ground in front of her.

There was only the whisper of cloth that alerted Raid a scant few seconds before two strong arms seized her shoulders, squeezing them almost painfully tight. "I think I have waited enough for some straight answers," Nuada intoned evenly, eyes glowing in the dark. Raid found herself thinking that he was very feline in the way he moved, and how his eyes also seemed to glow in the dark.

"I suppose so," she murmured, feeling drained. The last time she had felt this tire had been… well, it had been some time. "Just let me sit down first," she said, brushing his hands off and walking past him to the car, where she slid into the driver's seat. Closing her eyes she leaned her forehead against the steering wheel, feeling a little overwhelmed.

The sound of two doors opening and closing told her that the other two were now in the vehicles, though both of them remained strangely quiet. Again Raid questioned her reasons behind her actions today. First she had brought the twins back. That had been impulsive, and she couldn't even put a name to why she had felt it was so important to bring them back. She could justify it by saying that the fae needed a strong leader, and they would find that in Nuada, and Nuala was an ideal diplomat to work with humans, but there was still more beyond that.

And now? Now she still had to convince Nuada to change his mind, and that was looking more and more like an impossible task. Additionally she had to find the killers—she was sure that it was a group, not a single person responsible—within a week. While she wasn't normally concerned about being in trouble with mortal justice, the BPRD had means available to them that weren't available to most humans.

.........

Nuada silently studied the half-elf, something almost like concern on his face. He almost felt sorry for her, not pity, but sorrow for the way life had treated her. Listening to her speaking in the infirmary he had learned more than what she had just said, and more than he had learned in the past day.

Humans didn't trust her because she was fae, something he understood, though he really didn't care because he meant to wipe them and their taint from the surface of the earth, but he understood not being wanted by one's own people. He also understood why the fae wanted nothing to do with her, because it was the same reaction he had first had to her. To him, and other fae, she would appear an abomination, a lesser being more disgusting than a human.

Alone. That was what she was. Even surrounded by children, in the middle of a crowd, Raid would always be alone. Yet again something Nuada had in common with her. Internally he snarled at himself for getting so emotional and thinking so much about the abomination, but the anger felt hollow. Examining his actions, he felt no better than the humans with their prejudices.

"Why aren't you so full of hate? Why don't you want vengeance?" Nuada found himself asking, surprising himself by the words coming from his mouth.

Raid opened one eye and looked at him, sighing. Straightening she looked straight out the windshield, biting her lip softly in thought. Finally she looked at Nuada, and he found himself entranced by her soft amber eyes, holding a inner strength, softened by kindness and sorrow.

..........

"What good would that do? Who would I hate? The fae for killing my mother and rejecting me? The humans for their intolerance and foolishness? I—for a time I wanted to kill everyone and everything I encountered." Here Raid looked away, looking at her scarred hands resting on the steering wheel. "The power that came with the hate felt good. But it also felt _wrong_. I tried to exact vengeance, but no matter how much blood I spilled, nothing changed the past nor the way I was treated. I earned a reputation, but not acceptance from anyone." Taking a breath, Raid looked back into Nuada's eyes, startled slightly by the attentiveness and emotions in them.

"I realized that I could pin the blame all I want, but that wasn't going to change anything. So I changed tact. I tried to make peace between humans and fae where I could, between fae, and between humans. I lot of the time, it involves killing someone, something I'm quite good at." Sitting in the middle-seat, Andrea shifted, feeling as if she was intruding on something private, but she didn't say anything, because she wanted to hear this.

"You were the latest threat to humans, but you were defeated without my help. And then—the fae need a strong leader. They are dying out, most content with inaction while others attack humans, only to invite terrible retribution by the humans and other fae. I can't help the fae more than I am. They won't listen to me, and neither will the humans because they know I have no power." Frustration entered Raid's eyes, and Nuada realized that she really desired a new beginning for the fae, without violence.

Unsettled, Nuada looked away, staring out his window. "You shouldn't put your faith in me. My father expressed quite often how unsuitable a leader I would make. The fae will never support me. Perhaps my sister, but she is much like my father, content to watch our people die!" Nuada clenched his fists tightly, trying to calm himself again.

"The fae are right not to listen to the arrogant, belligerent who came before them when he returned from exile." The elven prince's gaze snapped back to Raid at her agreement, and he felt inexplicably hurt by her agreement with the others. "The question is, are you still going to be that person?" Her voice was soft now, and she cautiously reached out one hand to touch a scar on Nuada's cheek. Both of them were startled by her action, though neither reacted outwardly.

"Are you still him though? Are you still the hot-head who returned from exile and killed his father? I admit I am trying to convince you not to continue on your quest to wipe out humankind, but I still stand by my part where if you can convince me, I will aid you in your war. What I mean is are you still going to rush into everything, letting your blade do the talking, or are you going to let your head rule over your emotions?"

Raid withdrew her hand, grabbing her keys and turning them in the ignition. The car was silent once again as Raid turned the black SUV onto the highway leading back to the orphanage. Nuada quietly watched Raid, thinking. He was starting to sympathize with her, and understand her, and it alarmed him. The prince prided himself in his ability to remain distant, aloof, but this half-elf seemed determined to get under his skin.

For the first time, Nuada found himself questioning his quick condemnation of all humans. While it was true they poisoned the earth with little regard, and were brash, impulsive creature, was it still right to destroy them all? What had his father said? It was in their nature to want more. Was it not the same for most beings? The humans were still a young race, developing. The elves in their early years had been a violent race, not at all similar to what they were like now. Was it really for him to destroy all the potential the humans had?

Nuada glared out the window at the lights flashing by in the city around them. Why was he even asking these questions? The humans hadn't shown any inclination to change. They were killing off his people, and they didn't even care. Killing them was only just. The sooner he was rid of the half-elf, the better.


	5. Meet the Family

_Chapter 5 is finally here! I had mostly done a month ago, then my computer crashed and chaos ensued. The next chapter will be up in a little over three weeks, assuming my computer cooperates._

* * *

The black SUV pulled to a stop in front of the brick orphanage, and with a sigh Andrea opened her door. " 'Night Raid," she said, suddenly anxious to be back in her bed. Through the window she had just rolled down, Raid reached out and grabbed Andrea's arm.

"Don't you ever do anything like this again, understand me? Sneaking out is just inviting trouble, and you already have a tendency to attract more than your fair share as it is." Uncomfortable under the look she was getting from the half-elf, Andrea shifted, biting her lip and looking down at the street.

"I wouldn't have to sneak out if you adopted me." The plea in that sentence wrenched Raid's heart, and she bit off a sigh. "I wouldn't be any trouble. And I already know you're an elf and stuff, so it's not like you would have to hide that kind of stuff from me. Please, Raid—you're the closest thing to family I have left. I—you are always around, but you keep pushing me away when I get too close. It's like you think something bad will happen to me if you adopt me." Slowly Andrea raised her gaze to meet Saraid's. Now it was the half-elf's turn to feel uncomfortable.

"Andrea, you know I can't. I'm hardly at home, and I travel a lot. You would have to miss a lot of school, and probably stay with my cousin half the time. It wouldn't be much different from how things are now." She had to stay aloof. Getting attached any more than she already was to this human girl would end badly, for both of them. However, she couldn't just leave Andrea. Andrea was not a normal human girl, gifted with the third eye, or the ability to see things in the future, but her gift also extended beyond that.

The child could see a person's true intentions, which was partially why she was so rude in her interviews with perspective parents. Leaving the child alone would just invite disaster. "It's better this way. I'll still be here for you, but—"

"No! Stop it! You're making excuses _again_. I'm tired of it." Angrily Andrea brushed away the tears of frustration rolling down her cheeks. She was too old to be crying like some of the younger children when they didn't get their way. "If you don't want me, then just say it. I know you're busy, but I—you _know_ what it's like to feel unwanted. I don't want anyone else to take me in. I won't let anyone else take me in, but it's so hard sometimes…

"I see others leave, and still more come and take their place. This place is limbo, an in-between place. I don't want to be in-between. I want—I want to go _home_. I want someplace to come home, to have someone I can call family. I'm all alone, and, and—" Unable to continue because of the tears pouring down her face, the girl yanked her arm from Raid's grip and stumbled backwards, arms wrapping tightly around herself.

Raid opened her door and slipped out of the SUV, hesitating before going over, kneeling and embracing the child tightly. "It's not fair, I know," she murmured softly to the weeping teenager. "And I'm sorry. So sorry…" _for more than you know, _she finished silently. If Andrea knew how she came to be at the orphanage, would she be so eager to live with Raid?

Yet would it be so bad to adopt Andrea? The girl was discreet when she chose to be, and if Raid knew her cousin, she would always have someplace to go when Raid wasn't there. There were dangers, but there was danger everywhere, especially for those who didn't fit in with humanity's idea of 'normal'.

Andrea's arms went around Raid tentatively, and as she sobbed into the hybrid's shoulder she started to feel calmer. And safe. She felt safe around Saraid, because she knew that the half-elf would protect her no matter what. It was a feeling that went beyond words to an instinctual knowledge, unshakably deep.

"Let me talk to my cousin, okay? Then I'll think about it, but in the meantime, no more sneaking out." Surprise at this sudden turn, Andrea looked up, her eyes rimmed with red.

"Really?" she asked, eyes starting to water again.

"Yes, really," Raid replied, smiling softly. "Now get to bed. You're crying so much I know you must be exhausted." With a watery smile, Andrea detached herself from Raid, and scrambled across the parking lot, before disappearing around the corner of the building.

Standing up, Raid made her way back to the car, getting in without looking at Nuada. She didn't want to see his expression of contempt that she knew would be on his face at such an open display of emotions. "I need to talk with my cousin," she said, as the SUV pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards the freeway.

"Cousin?" there was confusion in Nuada's voice, and also disgust. Annoyed, and glad to focus on something other than Andrea, Raid cast a quick glare towards Nuada.

"She's not actually my cousin, but she is family. She's a human, my father's sister's great-great-great-granddaughter or something close to that. Anyways, they have always been close to my mother and me." A smile lit Raid's face as she thought of her cousin. "I think you two will get along well."

The smile on Raid's face surprised Nuada, but he found it also pleased him. It transformed her cold countenance into something delicate in its joy, but also sweet and vulnerable. A sneer curled his lip instinctually at these thoughts, yet still he watched her, his eyes soft. Choosing not to reply, for fear of ruining the moment, Nuada leaned back and closed his eyes, feigning sleep.

Looking over at the elven prince, Raid's smile turned to a soft chuckle. He had fallen asleep quickly. In sleep, the formidable elven prince looked younger, and gentler, and less like a person who was bitter and harsh. "Whatever am I going to do with you?" she said softly aloud, her gaze once again on the road, though she kept glancing at Nuada's form out of the corner of her eye.

Thinking the elf asleep, Raid seized the opportunity to think aloud. "You aren't evil, but you aren't good either. And why are you so special? The fates were unusually quick in negotiating for your return, but they asked such a strange price for it. Hell, I don't know what to do!" Rather than clearing her mind as hoped, Raid found herself more confused than she had been before thinking aloud.

She should have left Nuada dead. Then she would have fewer worries. Even as the thought crossed her mind though, she felt guilty for thinking it. Against everyone else she had stood up for Nuada, and here she was, ready to give up because it was too hard.

Watching her through half-lidded eyes, Nuada saw the emotions on her face change, going from happy to exasperated to thoughtful, before turning to confusion and frustration. However, what really caught his attention were her words. Price? Fates? What exactly did Raid do to bring him and Nuala back? For the first time, he wondered how much it had cost Raid, and what that might mean for her. In a way, Nuada owed her… but he hadn't asked her to bring him back.

No, it was her own foolishness, he decided. He owed Raid nothing, nothing at all. That was what he told himself at least, as he mulled over the last few hours since he had left Raid's house, trying to figure out how he really felt about the way things had gone. Inevitably, his thoughts turned to his twin, and he felt again the sharp stab of betrayal and pride at her unshakable decision. Closing his eyes, he slipped into sleep. A small smile twisted his lips as he dreamt of his childhood with Nuala, but then the dreams changed, and once again Nuada was back in the armory, facing off against Raid.  
At first it played out much like his memory of the event, with him ending up on top of the hybrid, but then she changed, her nose elongating into a cruel beak, her eyes turning a glittering black. Two tattered black-feathered wings spread out from her back and she spoke in a rasping voice that sent chills down his spine.

_"Undone, remade, all by the hands of one who is not pure. Stay true to yourself and your words, or to the illusions you have painted? Does she live, does she die, does she side with you, or you with her, or do you both destroy each other? The future is not set, but it draws closer, and less can be done to change it. Watch, prince, and if you dare, trust your emotions…"_

"Nuada!" the irritated shout woke the elven prince with a start, and he started to get up, only to find himself restrained. More awake now, he remembered that he was in a car. Feeling rather embarrassed, Nuada reached down and unclipped the seatbelt. Raid was standing in front of his now open door, and slightly behind her was another woman, this one human.

"We're here. This is my cousin—" Raid started to introduce the slightly shorter woman, but was cut off by the woman in question.

"Gods bless it Raid, he's half-asleep, and likely not to remember a thing later! And you look dead on your feet! I've told you that you can't go so long without sleep, even though you seem to think you can. Both of you need some sleep. Come on, we can finish introductions later. And that is not a suggestion." Turning, Amanda walked over to the door underneath a vaulted entranceway. Blinking, Nuada clambered out of the car, following Raid after her cousin, moving instinctively rather than consciously.

The house was lost in a blur of large open spaces and earthen colors as Nuada was led to a bedroom richly furnished in oak furniture and with thick, luxurious carpet on the floor. Only to glad to do as he was told, Nuada fell into the bed, and was asleep before Raid could say anything about behaving.

"Thanks Amanda," Raid said, as she crossed the hall to the room she used when she visited. Eager to get some rest, she hastily threw off her clothes and pulled on a long shirt and a pair of boxers she kept in the dresser. Then she slipped under the covers of the bed, expecting to fall asleep immediately. Instead she was once again overwhelmed with the occurrences of the day.

Her thoughts kept spinning round in circles, centering on the elven prince. So far she felt like her plan was failing. To make matters worse, Raid was beginning to doubt her ability to kill Nuada if it came to that.

..........

Amanda padded through her silent house to the kitchen, pausing only once to check on her two daughters and son, all fast asleep. She was too awake now to go back to sleep. Grabbing the teakettle, she poured water in it and set in on the stove, taking a seat on one of the barstools while she waited for the water to boil. The large windows over the sink looked out over a large grassy lawn bordered by woods, with no artificial lights in sight. Most people would have been bothered by all the large open space around them with only the dim glow of the digital clock on the oven and microwave to light the area, but Amanda was comforted by it.

The shrill whistle coming from the teapot brought the FBI agent to her feet, and she went over and poured a cup of the hot water, slipping into it a chamomile tea packet. Taking it with her back to the barstool, she set it on the counter and waited for it to steep, moving around the kitchen to grab the honey and a spoon in the meantime.

As Amanda prepared the tea, she pondered over what Raid had been up to lately. Her cousin, as she thought of the hybrid, had brought home a guy she knew was supposed to be dead. And why? Raid had told her that Nuada had to die. So why was he alive?

"Oh cousin… what have you got yourself into?" Amanda took a sip of the tea, running one hand through her short-cropped black hair. She glared into the amber colored liquid, before grabbing the honey and dumping it in. Stirring the drink with the spoon, Amanda continued thinking about Raid.

Even though the half-elf was far older than Amanda was, she couldn't help but worry about her. She had lost count of the times Raid had showed up, bleeding or looking nearly dead. The hybrid didn't take care of herself—she loathed what she was. Raid would never admit it, but the self-hatred fueled her recklessness.

And now Raid had brought home the elven prince who Amanda knew had been dead. "And you are falling for him, aren't you? Or have you already?" the human woman asked the still air. Nuada was the first fey she had brought here, to Amanda's home. Whatever Raid might say, Amanda knew from just watching her that she was already falling for the elven prince.

"So help me, if he hurts you, in any way, I_ will_ put a round through his head." Feeling better after making that promise, she quietly finished her tea and set the cup in the sink, before letting out a yawn. Glancing at the clock, she made a face. There was a little over two hours before she would have to get up to go to work.

Making her way through the large open living room, she entered the open hallway, pausing to glance at Raid. In the dim light, she couldn't make out much, but it appeared that the half-elf was actually sleeping, and not working on some project or another. Smiling, Amanda closed the door, making her way to her own bed.

.........

Raid awoke, and blinked at the morning light falling across her face. She obviously wasn't at her house; there were no windows. Sitting up she stretched, remembering that she was at her cousin's house. The thick aroma of coffee seeped under the doorway. Smiling, Raid stood up, and made her way out to the kitchen, still dressed in her long T-shirt and boxers.

Amanda was wearing her suit and holster, holding a cup of coffee and a bagel, and talking into an earpiece. Waving at the half-elf with the bagel, Amanda indicated through various hand gestures and facial expressions that she had to go. Still talking on the phone, she opened the door awkwardly, balancing the bagel on top of the coffee. Smiling back over her shoulder, the FBI agent closed the door.

Grabbing a cup, Raid poured it full of the dark coffee, inhaling the rich aroma. Leaning against the counter, she looked out the window at the rising sun, enjoying the simple beauty and quiet.

Drawn by the unfamiliar but strong scent of coffee, Nuada paused in the doorway, slightly surprised to see Raid and not wanting to startle her. He was used to see the half-elf in motion, always doing something. Now she was just standing there, gazing out the window, and the elven prince was caught unawares by the vulnerability and innocence in that simple posture.

It struck him then that he was becoming far too observant of Raid—the abomination. Abomination. He had to remember that Raid was not elven, was an impure half-breed whose only place was in death. Again he went over the reasons why he could not think of Raid as anything other than the freak of nature she was. The arguments were starting to sound worn and thin in his head, Nuada realized. It disturbed him how hard he had to work to be impartial to Raid, to show her a façade of disdain and arrogance.

"Morning sunshine," Raid quipped, smiling lazily at the elf lurking in the hallway. Taking a deep breath, she sipped at the coffee, raising one eyebrow at Nuada. "Not a real morning person, are you?" she asked, her grin turning mischievous.

Glowering at the hybrid, Nuada moved into the kitchen and perched on the edge of one of the barstools. The two were caught in the other's gaze; Raid's appraising, Nuada's gaze full of the confusion that he disguised with the dislike for the hybrid.

Raid could feel and hear her heartbeat speed up the slightest as she met Nuada's golden gaze. The teasing words died in her throat as she worked on keeping a slow, steady breathing pattern. The intensity in his eyes was mesmerizing, and she couldn't bring herself to look away. He looked rumpled; it was the only way she could think to describe it. She had always seen him looking impeccable, and now he was wearing clothes that were wrinkled. It was strangely appealing and alluring to her.

Nuada found he was lost in her warm brown eyes that were glowing from the sunlight. He was used to seeing them cold, hard, and angry, but not open. For a hybrid, she was strangely attractive. She was like none of the elven women he knew, fierce, and independent. Elven women were smooth and gentle, while Raid was unrefined. Yet for some reason, he wasn't appalled by her behavior.

"What the hell?" The interruption came from a black haired boy of sixteen, giving the pair a wary look as he entered the kitchen.

"Watch your language," Raid responded, sending a mock glare at the boy. He rolled his eyes, and moved past her to the refrigerator, pulling out a carton of juice. "Nuada, this is Darron. Darron, this is Nuada." The teenager made a non-committal grunt as he pulled out a glass and filled it with juice.

"More human relatives, I assume?" Nuada asked, voice cold. Raid gave him a confused look, before turning away.

"He's one of Ashley's kids, so yes." Raid's response was clipped, and Nuada could see the new tension in her shoulders. Irritated for no real reason he stood up, eyes hard. Part of him was glad for the human's interruption, but a smaller part of him was irritated at being disturbed.

"I told you Raid brought an elf with her," came another new voice. This one was younger, and feminine. A slim girl with brown-hair and amber eyes who looked to be around fourteen entered the room, followed by an older girl whose hair was somewhere between brown and black, with dark blue eyes.

"One who's supposed to be dead, no less," the older girl said, voice cool. She didn't care for the look of the elf sitting in her kitchen.

"Oh give it a break Kim. Do you really think Raid would bring someone dangerous here?" asked the younger girl. The older one, Kim, let out an exasperated sigh.

"Darron, pour me a glass, will you?" Kim asked, sitting down on the barstool farthest away from Nuada.

"Get it yourself. You're perfectly capable," Darron responded, putting the carton of juice back in the refrigerator.

Kim's eyes narrowed, and her mouth opened for a retort when Raid's voice cut across the kitchen, sharp as a knife.  
"Bryn, Kim, this is Nuada." The coldness in the hybrid's voice made the teenagers exchange a look. "And he was dead."

"So… more stuff we're not supposed to ask about?" Bryn cast a look at Nuada, sizing him up. He didn't look that dangerous to her. Sure, he looked like he hadn't seen the light of day in a while, and he had little scars over his hands, but he didn't look evil. "You don't look so cruel as the news paints you," she commented, head tilting to one side.

"Bryn, don't talk to him."

"Why not? Talking isn't going to hurt, Kim!" the younger girl said, exasperated.

"He is a murderer, Bryn," Kim snapped.

"So? Raid-"  
"He's not going to kill anyone, for the time being," Raid said, her voice quiet, almost lost in the bickering of the siblings.

"For the time being. And what exactly does that mean?" Kim demanded, one clenched fist hitting the counter. "He's running around killing more people in a week? A month? He can't be trusted Raid! You're doing it all over again!"

"Doing what?" Darron asked, speaking up.

"None of your business," his elder sister hissed at him.

Raid, who had been washing her cup out at the sink, stiffened. After a moment she resumed washing the mug, but her motions were more forceful.

Nuada's gaze focused on the hybrid, eyes narrowing as he tried to figure out what he was missing. There was a large piece to this puzzle that he still needed in order to understand Raid.

"What did you do now to bring him back? Exchange your soul for his?"

"Kim." Raid set the mug down with trembling hands, before turning to face the young woman. It was clearly a warning, but Kim chose to ignore it.

"Why? Help me understand why you brought back this killer! He's nothing but evil!" Kim stood up, the stool skidding across the wooden floor as she placed both hands on the counter, leaning across it towards the half-elf.

"You know I cannot discuss my prices," Raid said, struggling to control her tone. She had forgotten Nuada was still in the room, silent as he was remaining. "And I brought him back because he's the last hope for the fey."

"Surely there is some other leader who hasn't caused so much bloodshed who could—"

"There is no one else! And even if there was, there is no one else who could succeed." Raid whirled with the last statement, eyes flashing with despair and anger. "There. Is. No. One. Else," she repeated, emphasizing each word.

Kim was too shocked to respond. Raid had never yelled at any of them before. Always she had laughed off concerns, brushed aside worries. Now she looked on the verge of breaking.

"Yet why would you help a race that your very existence mocks?" Nuada asked into the silence. Bryn turned wide eyes on him, surprised by the venom in his voice.

"You wouldn't understand," Raid whispered, feeling tears threatening. She was exhausted, and it was damaging the control she had over her emotions. Whipping her head away from the elven prince she quickly left the kitchen. Almost blinded by unshed tears, she fumbled with the door handle until she got it open. Emerging onto the back wooden porch, she sat down on the edge, looking over the large yard into the forest.

Back in the kitchen, the three stunned siblings exchanged another look. "I'm going to talk with her," Kim said, pushing off the counter.

"I think you should leave her alone," Darron said.

"What do you know?" she demanded of her younger brother.

"I agree with him. I think we all should leave her alone." Bryn turned to Nuada. "And for someone whose life she saved, you sure are ungrateful. She's standing up for you, and all you do is insult her. Don't you think she's had enough? Yes, she's not a pure elf. Yes, she's half-human. I like her the way she is. You act like there's something wrong with her."

The young teenager took a breath, taking her eyes off of Nuada's chin and locking gazes with the prince. "You say you hate humans, but you're just as bad as most of them. Just because Raid has a human parent you treat her like dirt. It's not something she can control, yet you still discriminate against her." It was hard, staring into those yellow tinged eyes without wanting to look away. They were so cold and empty that she felt like she was drowning in them, unable to pull enough air into her lungs. "You aren't better than most humans at all, really," she added, her courage failing.

Looking away, Bryn crossed her arms over her chest, rubbing her arms. Suddenly it felt chillier than it had before. "I'm going to go grab a sweatshirt," she mumbled, walking out of the kitchen, carefully avoiding eye contact with Nuada.

The kitchen was quiet except for the humming of the stove's digital clock. Darron was seemingly captivated by the pulp floating in his orange juice, and Kim was focused on the counter area between her hands.

Nuada looked down the hallway that Raid had taken. He was feeling almost guilty for the way he had treated her. The human children were right though—what Raid was doing didn't make sense.

He was on his feet before he really knew what he was doing. It was time for some real concrete answers, not the constant deflection of questions with more questions.

"Where—" Kim started, only to shut her mouth at a raised eyebrow from her brother, who was still looking into his orange juice. Normally she would have ignored him, but she was feeling like she had stepped over some boundary today, and was afraid she would do it again.

Raid didn't look up as she heard the back door open. Resting her forehead against the palm of her hands, she couldn't see who it was, but she knew. There was only one person who could move so quietly. She could sense Nuada standing over her, and chose to let him speak first.

Looking down on the half-elf, Nuada felt the stirrings of emotions that were best left dormant. "We have a deal," he said, quietly. "I will honor it, but I need answers." It was almost painful to admit to needing help. The elven prince sat down next to the hybrid with just a soft rustle of cloth.

"Ask what you will," came the despondent reply. Raid turned her head so she was resting her cheek on her crossed arms, looking away from Nuada. It suddenly irritated the elven prince that he could not see her face.

"Look at me," he ordered.

"I said I'd answer your questions, not follow your every whim," Raid replied.

"I believe that is impolite even among humans to avoid looking at the person who you are conversing with."  
"Yes, it is. However, right now you should be content with the fact that I'm speaking with you."

A short war raged itself in Nuada's head, deciding whether to take the blow to his pride now or let Raid continue to look away. "Look at me… please?" The word felt unfamiliar, and he had a hard time forcing it out.

Raid turned to look at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Did you just ask me to do something?" she asked, unsure she had heard correctly. Nuada's thunderous gaze was more than enough of an answer. "It wasn't that bad, now, was it?" A sad smile lit her face, and Nuada wished he could know what she was thinking.

"You didn't always live with the humans."

"No, no I didn't," Raid said, curious as to where Nuada was going with this.

"Tell me of what your life was like. I assume you didn't always go around resurrecting dead royalty."

Blinking, Raid examined Nuada's face carefully. That last part had almost sounded like a poor attempt at a joke. Dismissing the thought as her imagination, she thought about what to the prince.

"I'm nearly eight centuries in age," she started, deciding to start as close to the beginning as she could. "My father was human, brother to a powerful priestess of Avalon. He was a druid, close to nature. I don't remember much of him—he died a little over a year after I'd been born. My mother traveled a lot, and I went with her. At first we took the paths of the fey, but we became unwelcome due to my heritage.

"Occasionally I would stay with some of her 'friends' while she was on missions. Usually I spent the time studying alone in whatever place we were staying for the moment. Frequently she would take me along to the parties of nobles to help her cover of the rich widow, which allowed her to get closer to her targets.

"I learned about elven culture from books. We were forbidden entrance to any elven realms, and the one elven friend my mother had I only knew through letters he sent. When I was close to a century-and-a-half, my mother started taking me on her missions with her. I was trained with blade, bow, and fists. Shortly after that I screwed up and got us caught.

"We were separated, and eventually I managed to free myself. I came out onto an inner wall, overlooking a courtyard. I watched as my mother was struck down, and… I lost it. Everyone died in that place for what they had done. Since then I've lived with the humans, passing off as anything from a noble lady to a longbow-man in the English army."

The whole time her voice had kept up a monotone drone, as if repeating the words for the hundredth time. It was a very vague tale, telling Nuada about her while leaving so many holes that he gleaned very little information about her. "The fey hate you-so why help them-us?"

"Because whatever else I am, I am still half-elven. The fey are still my people. I don't want to see them die. On the other hand, the humans are my people too. I know that there will never be a true balance between the fey and humans, but I can't stand by and watch as the humans destroy us. And yet I won't be party to a plan that involves wiping out the humans."  
"So you have no real solution, then."

"I have you."

Nuada blinked, tearing his gaze away from Raid's. He didn't understand what she wanted of him. He feared that even if he did, he wouldn't be able to do anything. Irritation rose in him. It shouldn't matter! After the time was up, he was going to gather a new army and destroy the humans. And Raid. Especially Raid. Abominations like her would be the first to die.

"And what makes you think I will just help you?" Nuada asked with a sneer.

"I don't think that you will just help me." Raids voice was barely above a whisper. "I've killed fey who threaten humans, and humans who threaten fey. It isn't enough though. That won't lead to any sort of agreement. The humans will only work with a leader of the fey, and there is no other leader strong enough to give the fey a voice. My plan—it all hinges on you.

"If you were to see that humans aren't all deserving of death, than perhaps there could be hope for both of our races. If you don't see the humans as anything other than a parasite to be wiped from the face of the earth, then either the fey or the humans will die."

"You know I hate humans," Nuada said, without any venom in his voice. "Yet still you persist in attempting to change my mind. I had not taken you for a person who was given to believing in lost causes."

"There is much you have to learn of me, Prince," Raid responded. "And I don't believe in lost causes. I just don't think you are one." Without any warning the hybrid stood up. "I have to go talk with the kids. Try to stay out of trouble and don't kill anyone, 'kay?" With that, Raid slipped back inside, leaving Nuada alone on the porch to muddle over how strange this female was.

........

Amanda slowed her car as she came up to the ornate wrought iron gates of the 'sewage plant'. Rolling down her window she pressed the button for the speaker. "This is Agent Rowan requesting that the gates be opened."

"One moment, Agent Rowan," came the reply, and the gates slid open before her. Pulling her car into a spot, she got out, ignoring the security guards and their dogs. Walking into the entrance hall of the building, she immediately made her way towards the desk.

"Agent Rowan, I presume," said the bored looking guard behind the desk. "Please stay where you are. Someone will meet you at the bottom." He reached out and flicked a switch. The ground beneath Amanda started to sink, and she realized with a start that she was on a kind of elevator.

Smoothing back her hair with one hand, Amanda hoped she didn't look like too much of a mess. After having her night interrupted by Saraid, she had gotten little sleep. Then at work she had finished packing up her things and driving out here, waiting to find out if her transfer had gone through.

The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense was almost always in need of new agents, as older ones were frequently getting killed or quitting. The job was a risky one, more so than her regular FBI job, but it had its advantages. If she was working with the BPRD, she would be able to keep Raid safer.

The elevator settled with a loud clang of metal on metal, followed by a screech as the doors opened in front of her. The sight that greeted her was one of pandemonium and chaos. As soon as her eyes registered what they saw, one hand was instinctively drawing her handgun. Raising it up, she aimed at the shoulder of the troll, stepped forward, and pulled the trigger. Used to the slight recoil from the handgun, Amanda took no time in letting off the second bullet. The additional pain caused by the bullets that had just barely pierced its thick skin further enraged the troll, who had already been angry.

The agents trying to restrain the troll were yelling, gesturing at her, while other voices joined the din. The loud bellows of the troll overwhelmed all as it strained to reach the female agent. After a few moments the bellows became low grunts, the troll's motions becoming sluggish. The next instant the troll hit the floor with enough force to cause the agents closest to it to lose their balance.

"Ah, Agent Rowan, you, er, arrived just in time." Looking to the side, Amanda noticed a gray-haired and balding man who looked like he spent top much time behind a desk. "I am Mr. Manning, and I'll be your boss. You, uh, do good work." Here the man gestured to the troll. "I'm surprised it was taken down so easily, that was quite good—"

"Manning, the bullets were hollow tipped, and filled with a sedative designed specifically for the more dangerous of large fey." Amanda enjoyed the silence that came over Manning with that statement. Evidently they had underestimated what she meant when she said she was versed in fighting fey.

"Ah, so this is the new babysitter. A girl? Well, that's new. Figured out the guys weren't getting anywhere, eh Manning?" From one of the myriad of corridors appeared Hellboy and entourage, composed of Liz, Nuala, and Abe.  
Again Amanda cut across Manning, irritated by his constant stuttering and inability to speak confidently. "I'm no one's _babysitter_," she said, giving the demon a predatory grin. "I'm agent Rowan, but call me Amanda. I have… connections and inside knowledge of the fey."  
"Really?" The question came from the delicate elven princess, her head inclined to one side. The disbelief in her voice was evident, which only added to Amanda's amusement.

"Really. I've fought a few of these things before. I've had access to some old volumes on the fey that have provided me with weaknesses for many of the major races."

"It is our pleasure to meet you, Amana. Please, call me Abe." The aquatic humanoid extended his hand, and before thinking Amanda shook it. Almost as soon as she touched his webbed fingers she realized her mistake. Abe was a psychic.

His eyes widening, Abe looked at Amanda. "Your—you know that woman! Raid. And you know where she and Prince Nuada are! You—oh."

Amanda's gaze went cold, and she withdrew her hand. Gone was the smiled, replaced by thinned lips.

"What? You know? But… how? You must tell us, we must arrest that criminal—"

"Raid is family." Amanda's eyes briefly met Nuala's, and then Liz's. "I am afraid I cannot tell you where they are. Only that you don't have to fear Nuada right now. And believe me, the moment he becomes a threat to humans, I will put a few rounds through him."

"What? Come on, you know where the pointy eared bastard—no disrespect princess—is, and you won't tell us?" Hellboy glared angrily at the smaller agent, but failed to intimidate her.

"Raid has been doing this for longer than all of you—excluding your Highness—have been alive, and knows what she's doing." Amanda fingered the grip of her gun, almost wishing she hadn't holstered it. This job was not off to a good start.

"HB…" Liz placed a hand on his shoulder. "We already talked about it. She seemed to have everything under control, and I think we should give her a chance." The look on her face said that she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"So… I am a hired of fired?" Amanda asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Well, this is highly irregular, and—"

"Manning, I highly doubt that I would be considered strange compared to most of what you encounter around here," she said, cutting across the man yet again. Already she was tired of hearing him talk.

"Yes, well, you do have a good record. If you would follow me, there's just some papers I need you to sign…" Amanda had stopped listening to Manning, but smiled and followed him anyways, letting her jacket fall forwards, concealing her weapon once more.

"I like her," Abe commented.

* * *

_Also, if anyone would be interested in being a beta for this story, please message me. As always, reviews appreciated, and with the next chapter will come a quick sketch of Raid before her morning coffee. _


	6. Regroup

_Well, I'm finally back, after going through three computers (technology and I do NOT get along well). Here's the next chapter, and I'm terribly sorry for the long delay. Also, starting this chapter I will be replying to each review, and I just want to thanks, as always for all the support. The next chapter is already half way done, and I have a new sketch that should be up, sooner or later (depending on technology co-operation)_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**At the house**

Raid walked into the kitchen to be greeted by two questioning looks. Pasting on a wan smile, she moved over to the counter, looking at Darron and Kim. There were sounds from one of the corridors and Bryn appeared, dragging on a navy blue sweatshirt with F.B.I. embroidered in large white letters on the front. The silence was uncomfortable; no one seemed sure where to start.

As usual, Bryn was the first to speak. "You like him." It wasn't phrased like a question, and she had a look in her eyes that teenage girls get when they guess a secret crush, and know it to be true. Raid's first instinct was to deny any such feelings, but she hesitated, unsure of the veracity of words.

"Whether or not I have personal feelings for him has nothing—" she started to give an ambiguous response, but wasn't given time to finish her half-hearted excuse.

"Oh. My. God. He's a murderer Raid! He's not some wayward soul you can shepherd," Kim interjected, her anger resurfacing rapidly. As much as she cared for her 'Aunt' Raid, she wasn't going to let this lie. "And you are falling for him. Fantastic. Fucking great. This is all I need in my life right now; you dating an elven prince who is not only supposed to be dead but a mass murderer to boot. Simply fantastic."

Raid ground her teeth together, determined not to take out her lack of sleep or frustration at the seeming futility of her task on the young woman. "I don't know how I feel about him. It doesn't matter, not really. We have a deal, and if he breaks it, then I will kill him. And if I can't do my part, then I will suffer the consequences of my actions."

Kim ran a hand through her shoulder length cropped hair, exhaling a short breath, a single note of disbelief. "For someone who has outlived empires, you hardly know yourself, Raid." She turned her dark blue eyes on the hybrid, her eyes full of disappointment. "You've already fallen for him, and you don't even see it. You won't be able to kill him. Not now, not ever. You've already lost."

The half-elf straightened up, eyes narrowing. The others in the room felt as if the air had chilled, and they sensed a withdrawal, albeit an emotional one rather than a physical one, from the woman in front of them. "You are nothing but a mere child, Kimberly," Raid said, speaking with a deliberate slowness, emphasizing each syllable. "You have yet to gain experience from life, but you feel as if what knowledge you have gleaned from books and accounts of others is sufficient enough for you to pass judgment on others.

"Tread carefully with your words, child, for you draw dangerously close to a line you should not step over." There was a feral light in the hybrid's eyes, and the mortals could feel the invisible power coalescing around her form, almost tangible. The hairs on the back of Kim's neck were standing on end, and she began to understand the true nature of the fae, and that despite how human they might appear, they were anything but.

"Raid, we're just worried about you. We don't want to see you get hurt. And you know he isn't good news." Bryn spoke in a hushed tone, as if trying to calm a spooked horse, her voice carrying underlying tones of reassurance and appeasement.

"He doesn't deserve you, or another chance." Darron spoke, though he wasn't looking at Raid or any other occupant in the room. "But hell, you think he's redeemable, so I'll give him a chance. I trust your judgment."

It was apparent to all in the kitchen that Kim only barely bit back a sharp-tongued retort. Instead Bryn picked up where Darron had left off, stepping closer to Raid and cautiously reaching out a hand, bridging the gap between them. With a softening of the eyes, Raid accepted the girl's hand, and pulled her into a hug, burying her nose in the silky brown hair.

"I'm sorry, but it's… I don't even know what the hell I'm doing." Unshed tears shone bright in Raid's eyes for a moment before she blinked them away, taking a deep, steadying breath. Once more she was back in control, and it was as if she had always been. "I have to take this chance though. Whatever I may seem to be, I'm not human. I can't mingle with humans freely, because if others knew what I was, I would be hunted because I am abnormal. Nuada… I'm pinning my hopes on him. I just hope he won't disappoint." Letting go of Bryn, she looked at the older two of the siblings.

"You two shouldn't be reading those journals, not yet. I don't keep them here for you to go prying into them." The lightheartedness had returned, and like that the gloom in the kitchen lifted.

"Are you saying that you think I would take the time to go ready some dusty old tomes when I barely read the books required for school?" Darron asked with one arched eyebrow, playing the insulted party.

A smile twitched at the corner of Raid's lips at Darron's response, and she shook her head. "I'm going to go get dressed. Try not to abuse Nuada when he comes in," she added as she headed towards the room she had claimed as hers.

Almost as soon as Raid had left, Bryn turned to Kim and Darron. "We should try to contact Elryn. You know he wouldn't approve of Nuada, and he's the only one I think who could talk her out of this." There was a somber note to the teenager's words, and once more they felt a gloom settle over them.

"Easier said than done," Darron commented, scratching at the faint shadow of a beard on his chin. "Especially doing it without Raid finding out. Plus, she'll be furious when she finds out. Remember, she dumped him because she didn't want him getting involved with her work."

"We don't have many choices; Raid's seen to that." Kim's voice was hard, the strong undercurrent of anger back. "Bryn, you should talk to her again. You understand her best. And Darron… try not to talk to Nuada. Avoid him. I mean it; stay away from him." Nervous energy caused her to rap her knuckles against the counter twice as she shifted her feet.

Darron frowned, and shook his head. "Are we being too judgmental? We don't actually know him, Kim. Don't you think we should at least give him a chance to confirm our suspicions first?" he asked, eyes troubled. For all that he might pretend to be uninterested in the events occurring around him, he was carefully observant and insightful.

"What more proof do you need?" Kim demanded, jaw clenching in anger. "Those people that died at the auction house—each of them had loved ones, and he killed them all, _without regret_. You've seen him; does he look burdened by any of the blood he's shed?"

Bryn glanced between her older siblings, wisely deciding not to speak until spoken to. Getting in the middle of arguments between Darron and Kim tended to be hazardous to one's health.

Rolling his shoulders, Darron ran a hand through his messy hair. "Shouldn't we trust Raid? I mean, it's not like she's been around for centuries longer than us or anything," he responded, avoiding answering the question.

"He's a murdering bastard who was exiled by his own people." Kim's tone was final; no amount of arguing would sway her now. "We need Elryn. He's almost as old as Raid, and he'll remember Nuada."

"He's not a fighter though, Kim." Bryn finally spoke up, having studied the journals longer than either of the other two. "And Raid wasn't exactly kind about breaking it off either. I'm not sure he'll come."

"He'll come." Both Darron and Bryn gave her questioning looks. "Raid may have broken his heart, or tried to, but he still loves her. If anyone can show her how evil Nuada is it'll be him."and through his messy hair. "Ir. "I jusm tended to be hazardous to one's health. to. Getting in the house--he killed them. Eve

A small noise caused all three of them to turn with a start towards the door that led outside. Back against the door, one foot on the floor, Nuada gazed coldly at them. Kim felt a chill steal through her, and she silently prayed that the elf had missed the conversation entirely, though she knew it was a slim hope.

Bryn let out a surprised squeak, covering her mouth with one hand as she realized that she had made the noise. "Raid's in the library," she said quickly, wanting him to go away. He was starting to freak her out, appearing like that. Already she was on edge from the earlier confrontation with him, and the subject of their conversation now was not one she wanted to speak to him on. Ever. "That way," she added, pointing to down a short hallway to two large double doors, opposite the way Raid had gone.

Darron shot Bryn an unreadable look, but he seemed largely untroubled by Nuada's sudden appearance, just as if they had not been plotting to get Raid to break her word and turn against him.

Nuada made no verbal response, but pushed off the door with his foot, moving past the three humans and going down the hallway which Bryn had pointed to, opening the large doors and disappearing inside without a sound. The humans found that they were unable to read him, stopped by the masque of haughty authority her had put on.

Kim let out a breath she hadn't been aware that she had been holding, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. "You shouldn't have said anything. Especially not a lie." Her words were a tad too breathy to sound completely normal, but her siblings left it alone.

Bryn began to clasp her fingers, moving them around in random patterns, a sign of her nervousness. "It wasn't a lie, exactly." Her gaze traveled around, away from Kim and Darron, fixing on a portrait in the adjacent living room. Walking towards the fireplace, her eyes still fixated on the painting, she continued speaking, her hands stopping their agitated movement. "She'll be looking for something that will help her make sense of what's going on." Her voice was quiet, and both Darron and Kim moved out from the kitchen in order to hear her.

"Look at this. I mean, you can't see her face, but you just _know_ it's Raid." The carefully painted strokes on the aged painting revealed the lithe form of a woman. Her face was turned away, so that the on-looker could only see the barest curve of a cheek and the slightly pointed ear. Long black hair was held back in a long plait, intertwined with thorns. She wasn't wearing the traditional dress of the time period the painting was made: a cloak off of one shoulder; a tunic that was cut short in length, belted across her body by a black leather strap; black, loose trousers that almost passed as a skirt, falling over dark leather boots; and a strange longbow, the edges like blades, a dark crimson liquid falling off of them. The set of the shoulders was straight and tall, but the line of her neck and hand grip conveyed a sadness and despair that was echoed by the stormy sky above her. The ground was barren, cracked and dead around her feat, the only life apart from Raid the sharp thorns and black roses in hair.

"And we aren't helping?" Darron inquired, knowing that Bryn had the best insight into Raid. He tried to understand the half-elf, but he had enough trouble understanding women on the whole, much less one who has been around for several centuries.

"The painting says it all. _Letalis angelus de cassus_ _viscus_. Mortal angel of the empty heart." Bryn turned to face her older siblings, eyes dark with troubled thoughts. "She's always so alone. Sure, she visits us a lot, but we're pretty much all she has, and we can't always understand her. _She isn't human_. Not fully, anyways. We can't understand what she's going through, what her life has been like, and she knows that."

"All the more reason to get Elryn here as soon as possible," Kim said, tone carrying a note of finality. "This conversation is over. Neither of you two breathe a word to Raid, or anyone else." Having said her final piece, Kim turned and walked off, pausing to grab a set of keys off a small side-table in the hall, before going out the front door.

As Nuada opened one of the large doors, his initial impression was one of blinding light. Blinking rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the brilliance of the room, his mind rebelled against what his eyes were telling him he was seeing. The library was easily three stories, the outer walls circular and lined with bookcases that ended just a few inches beneath a large windows that also encircled the room. It was these windows, along with the glass ceiling, that lit the large room up so. The problem was that the house Nuada was in couldn't contain a room this spacious and large. Instinctively he looked up, turning around slightly so he could look at the doors. The doors themselves were large and unadorned, but the door frame was edged with a warm oak, and inscribed on the oak were golden words in Gaelic, words of power and magic.

It shouldn't have surprised him, after entering the strange room in Raid's house, to find another magical doorway here, yet it still perturbed him. For being a half-human, she had a remarkable amount of old magic and powerful items around. Turning back to the room he frowned, trying to decide where to start looking. The inner bookshelves of the library curved round in a dizzying spiral pattern that seemed to have no end or beginning, rather randomly cut open to allow access.

Of course, he half-expected that Raid wasn't even here. He was sure he had heard her in another direction, but he wasn't familiar with the layout of the house, now made even more confusing by the presence of spelled doors. A sound did reach his ears though, the slight creaking of metal, which he imagined must come from one of the many rolling ladders about. Cautiously he advanced into the maze of bookshelves, trying to shrug off the feeling of the walls closing in.

After prowling through the labyrinth of bookshelves for several minutes—he was sure that another magic of the room made it look smaller than it actually was—he heard another noise, this time closer. Backtracking to the last turn-off, he went left, and was rewarded by the glimpse of a figure high up on the bookshelves.

Having found his quarry, Nuada just stood there for a minute, taking in the sight of her and trying to understand, yet again, her motivation. The conversation he had overheard had proved his suspicions as to what was thought of him—a murder, a cold-hearted bastard. He wasn't bothered by the opinions of the humans though, but the thought that Raid saw him as so was oddly... unpleasant.

It defied explanation, what she was doing. This deal they had... it should have fallen apart, fragile as a butterfly's wings. He was starting to wish that it would end, to make things simpler. Raid complicated everything; he was now oath-bound to her, but she didn't seem to be taking advantage of his oath.

More puzzling was why she even cared about him. The fae in general clearly did not care for the hybrid, for they too would see her as she was, an abomination. Yet she still seemed determined to help them.

It came to him then, that she just wanted to belong, a feeling he could relate to. After his father had exiled him, he had been alone for the most part. True, he wasn't repulsed from places like he knew Raid must be, but he could understand the desperate, private longing to belong. Thinking of Raid, comparing her to himself, didn't feel as wrong as he expected it to.

What was happening to him? It was becoming harder and harder to think of Raid as an abomination; she was Raid, the enigmatic woman who had restored him to life, who had shared bits and pieces of her past, enough to tell that there was a picture and what its frame was, but too little to determine what that picture was. She was a fighter, skilled and experienced. She was compassionate, taking care of children who had no home. She was diplomatic, with a combination of peaceful prospects and threats of violence. She was... she was... he didn't know how to phrase his feelings for her.

The elven prince opened his mouth to address the hybrid, and found himself at a loss for words. In exile with his troll companion, words had not been as necessary. Sure, he spoke with his friend, but they had not needed constant conversation between them in order to ward off awkward silences. With Raid though, all the rules had been changed.

"And what might you be finding so terribly engrossing right now?" he asked, settling for a snide question. His arrogant mask was easier to wear than his actual self; he knew what others expected from his arrogant self, and it was easy to meet those expectations.

Raid hadn't heard Nuada come up. She had changed quickly, wearing black sweats and a tank-top, before she had come to the library and heading to the journal section. These books were written by the female line of her family, and she was hoping to find some scrap of ancient wisdom telling her what to do about the terrible and beautiful elven prince she had irrevocably bound herself to.

Rolling one ladder to the middle of a shelf, she had quickly scurried up the rungs to the top, carefully extracting a well-worn journal from the dusty shelf. Then she had slowly turned around and perched on top of the ladder, a precarious position at best. She had not taken into account what would happen if anyone happened to startle her.

"Who the—oh shit!" she exclaimed as she bolted upright, momentarily forgetting she was on the top of a ladder. The hand with the journal clasped in it waved wildly around as she recalled where she was, while the other went to frantically grip the wood. Her searching hand never made it as one of her feet slipped on the rung she had stood up on. All thoughts were knocked from her mind as her head snapped back against the rungs, banging painfully, the iron taste of blood filling her mouth. Like slipping on stairs though, her fall didn't stop there. Without holding on to anything, she was starting to accelerate downwards on the ladder, the journal dropping from her limp hand like a bird with a broken wing.

Nuada started forward, a small twinge of guilt stabbing him as he realized he had caused this. Then he remembered that he didn't like Raid, and curling his lip he stepped back from the ladder. He was not going to break some abomination's fall that was really all her fault in the first place. Then again, if Raid got hurt while he just watched, the human woman—Amanda?—would likely try to put a few bullets in his chest.

There was a loud crack, as Raid's elbow slammed into the bookshelf behind the ladder, jarring her body hard, and momentarily halting her downwards rush. At the same time one ankle slipped through the rungs. Her hands clawed wildly for a perch, but in her dazed state she was unable to grasp anything. There was a sharp, animal-like hiss as she felt herself starting to slip again. Her foot on the outside of the ladder futilely scrambled to get traction on the wood, only causing her fall to resume so much quicker. There was another small crack as her body fell forward, pulled sharply by her still caught ankle. Then her ankle wasn't in the ladder again, and she was falling down.

Closing her eyes, she expected the next moment to be filled with the pain of crashing into the floor, or a bookshelf, or Nuada, or possibly all of them. There was a brief wave of nausea that swept over her as her fall was abruptly stopped, but there was no hard floor that hit her head, just firm, cool flesh. Opening her eyes, she blinked up at the figure who had caught her, having no idea what to say.

Nuada hadn't meant to help her, but seeing Raid falling like that, so fragile and in need of help had brought out a side of him he liked to keep buried, pretending that it didn't exist. Elven reflexes had allowed him to step forward, positioning his arms so that he could catch her with as little jolting as possible. The impact of her body hitting his would have knocked over a human, but the elven prince only shifted his arms around her better. Her eyes opened, and she looked up at him, her head leaning slightly on his left shoulder. "Twice now?" she murmured dazedly.

The confusion in her eyes was evident, and he felt a tiny twinge of bitterness. Was it that hard to believe he would help her? "That was very foolish of you," he told the woman in his arms, trying to sound neutral, like he didn't care. It irritated him, the look of surprise on her face... that, and the blood starting to bead on her split lip.

"I wasn't expecting anyone to be sneaking around in here," she replied, almost absent-mindedly. This... this wasn't how Nuada was supposed to act. He was supposed to be cold, and cruel, and all the things everyone kept telling her he was. And now he had caught her for the second time, in the space of a few days. Hell, she knew that he felt little, if any, remorse and was a ruthless killer, yet she couldn't bring herself to hate him. She hadn't been able to hate him from the moment she had met him, in fact... she only kept falling harder for him. And that thought, more than anything, scared her.

"I wasn't sneaking," he snapped, unceremoniously letting his arms go slack and dropping her to the floor. Startled, Raid only just landed on her feet, clinging to Nuada for balance as she swayed unsteadily.

"What was that for?" she demanded, hands starting to cut off the circulation in his arms. Her gaze traveled up from the floor to Nuada's eyes, and he felt his heart beat quicken. The pent up frustration in her eyes made them spark with a heat that was very, very enticing. A self-assured smirk slowly spread across his arrogant features as he heard Raid's heartbeat quicken as well.

She might be an excellent liar, but now her body was giving her away. Her lips parted as she started to demand answers again, but this time Nuada had no intention of letting her speak. Recalling the way she had first quieted him, he raised one cold finger and placed it over her lips. A small shock went through him at the contact; her lips were warm, though dry and chapped, yet that only served to make them all the more enticing to him. They weren't smooth and cold like his; they knew the kiss of sunshine and the caress of wind.

The smirk widened, and he knew he had a predatory look in his eyes. Now he was the one with Raid exactly where he wanted her. Leaning forward he stopped a scant few inches away from her face, their breath mingling in the air between them. "You are a most frustrating woman to figure out," he whispered.

Then the moment was gone, Raid jerking back like he had stung her. The mask slipped into place, and he saw a hint of his own aloofness in the hybrid. "I don't mean for people to be able to figure me out easily," she responded, dropping her hands from his arms.

Her eyes flicked to Nuada's still upheld finger, noticing the bright crimson dot on it. She ran her tongue over her lip, tasting the iron of blood. This game the two of them were playing was getting more and more dangerous, and the stakes were already far too high for her to lose.

"Raid?" The new voice relieved some of the tension, as it gave Raid an excuse to turn away from the elven prince, heading towards a break in the wall of books. Even as she walked away, though, she could feel Nuada's gaze burning into her back. She had to fight her instincts, turning her back on him when every part of her screamed that he was a threat, and turning her back on him was suicidal.

Nuada fumed silently, though his face had slipped into a perfect neutral look. This—this whatever it was—had to end. Before things got out of his control. Part of him was glad that Bryn had provided a distraction, as he had felt his control of the situation slipping, but at the same time, he had had Raid.

It bothered him, the look she had had in her eyes. Her brown eyes had gone from a fiery anger to something softer, something that he could drown in if he wasn't careful. Abomination. He had to remember that was what she was. A monstrosity. Yet… yet hadn't he been called those names too?

Exhaling, the elven prince shrugged, loosening his muscled. Focus. He needed to keep his mind set on the goal; eliminate humans. Without realizing it, he had followed Raid, and stood watching her talk with Bryn.

He wasn't paying attention to the words that were exchanged, until Raid's voice suddenly rose, edged with anger.

"You _what?_" she asked, hands crossing protectively over her chest. Instinctively Nuada moved to stand behind her. He took a step back at the heated glare she sent him over one shoulder. Her whole body was tense as she turned back to the small human girl.

"What on in the name of all the gods made you think that was a good idea?" she demanded of Bryn, voice now filled with a softer despair. Raid's shoulders slumped, and she put a hand on her forehead. "I can't—I don't need this right now," she murmured, more to herself.

"Elryn's already on his way," Bryn replied defensively, avoiding the question asked of her. She looked over Raid's shoulder at Nuada, eyes narrowing for a second.

"Who is this Elryn?" Nuada enquired, disliking having to ask for information. The humans had mentioned the name earlier, he was sure of it, but he had been too absorbed in his own thoughts to listen. It bothered him that he was missing something, and the feeling nagged at him, saying that he was missing more than the obvious.

"He's a male dryad," Bryn replied, eyes dark and closed off. Now she was starting to wish Kim or Darron or both of them were here instead of her.

"It's close enough," Raid told Nuada without looking. "If you want to know more, ask him, but he's got a strong affinity to earth." There was just the barest edge to her voice, a bite of bitterness.

"Ra-aid," Bryn whined, rolling her eyes. "When are you going to apologize? I mean, really, it was _your _fault. And we miss having him around. He always knew how to make you smile, and he would show us—".

"_My _fault?" Raid's shoulders tensed, and she took a step forward, causing Bryn to lean back a little. The half-elf was starting to scare her. "He—" Raid stopped abruptly, turning away from Bryn.

"There's more to it than what happened last time," she said quietly, eyes shadowed. Nuada felt a prickle beneath his skin. He didn't know this Elryn, hadn't even seen him, but already he disliked him, and if anything, he should like another being who seemed to upset Raid.

Bryn opened her mouth to say something, then shut it, glancing at Nuada. Hesitantly, she placed a hand on Raid's arm. "Please just give him a chance this time?" she pleaded.

"We'll see," the hybrid said, voice hard again. All emotion had fled her eyes, and it reminded Nuada of when he had first met her. It startled him to think that he had only met her, what, two days ago? It felt like he had known her for much longer than that. There was a familiarity to Raid that was truly puzzling.

"He said he'd be here in about an hour," Bryn informed the half-elf, taking a few steps back, wary of another explosion.

"An hour? Where—never mind, I'll just ask him when he gets here." Raid eyes darkened, and then she turned to Nuada. "Mind sparring for a bit?" she asked.

Nuada blinked, caught offguard by the sudden change in subject. He guessed that Raid wanted a distraction, and it would be advantageous to test her combat skills again. "It would be an interesting diversion," he replied, already thinking of how he could best Raid.

"Great. Follow me." She turned abruptly on her heel, walking away between the towers of bookshelves that all looked the same to him.

**

* * *

****At the BPRD**

Amanda stood, feet a little under shoulder-width apart, both hands on her gun, and pulled the trigger, once, twice, three times. Lowering the gun, she reached out and hit the button to bring her practice sheet back in. Taking out her earplugs, she holstered her gun, before realizing her phone was vibrating.

Yanking out the small cellphone, Amanda flipped it open and answered while pulling down the target, one shot to the center forehead, one to the heart, and the other to the throat. "Agent Rowan speaking," she said.

"Mom, it's Kim." Amanda frowned, a little concerned about why Kim would be calling her. Kim wasn't the usually the one who bothered her at work.

"What is it?" she asked her eldest child, taking the sheet and passing it off to the agent working the shooting range.

There was hesitation on the other end of the phone, and then Kim answered, slowly. "Elryn's coming over to talk with Raid." It took another agent bumping into her before Amanda realized she had stopped in the middle of a hallway.

"Explain." It was a demand, not a request. Amanda didn't mind Elryn; for a fae, he wasn't that bad. But last she knew, Raid wasn't on speaking terms with him.

"We all—that is, Bryn, Darron, and I—thought someone needed to talk to Raid. And since she won't listen to us, we thought it would be best if we got someone whom she's known longer to try and talk to her." The young woman's voice sounded concerned, mixed with frustration.

A little annoyed herself at her children's actions, Amanda let out a deep sigh. "When is he supposed to get there?"

"About an hour. I'm on the way to the BPRD right now. I have my test results; I've qualified."

Blinking, Amanda tried to think of an appropriate response, caught off guard by the sudden change of topic. Failing to find one, she replied, "Great. See you soon," and hung up the phone.

"Problems?"

Glancing up from putting away her phone, Amanda saw Liz standing there. "Oh, you know, the usual. An undead elven prince for a houseguest, and my cousin's ex coming over for a visit. And my daughter just qualified for training to be in the FBI. Just a normal day."

Liz smiled. She agreed with Abe; she liked agent Rowan. The woman wasn't as serious or anal as the majority of the agents seemed to be. And she didn't wait for someone to give her instructions before acting when action was needed. "Is she looking at the BPRD too?" she asked, trying to make conversation.

"Unfortunately, yes. My dearest cousin brought them up on such tales… well, I was brought up on those same tales by her too, and you can see how I turned out." Amanda grinned at Liz, and Liz couldn't help the small chuckle she let out. The FBI's agents eyes went to Liz's stomach. "I hear you have your own kids on the way," she said.

"Twins," Liz replied. A silence fell between them, but not an awkward one. There was something about Amanda that set the pyrokinetic at ease. Perhaps it was because Amanda obviously knew more about their world then most of the agents who came to work at the bureau. Maybe it was because she was another female, one who had had kids, and was a source of experience that she could draw on. Whatever it was, Liz had barely known the woman for a few hours, but she was already starting to trust her.

"Your cousin is Saraid, right?" Liz asked as they walked along the halls.

"Yep. Lucky me." Amanda sighed, running a hand through her hair. "She's been alive longer than me, but sometimes she acts like a teenager. Then other times she… she's seen so much, and done a lot of things, and it makes me feel so stupid and young. And then she goes and does something stupid like bringing back a dead, murderous, elven prince.

"And no. I don't know how she did. But I do know that she believes he'll help create a peace between humans and the fae." A frown appeared on her face. "I don't trust Nuada. I, personally, wouldn't mind killing him again. Nothing personal, but he doesn't particularly like humans. And… and I'm sure he's going to end up hurting Raid, emotionally or physically or both."

Liz hesitated, unsure how to respond. The woman next her had almost seemed to age as she spoke about her cousin, and it reminded Liz that Amanda was older than her. "She explained a little, in a letter she's sent." Collecting her thought, Liz continued. "It would be nice for those of us with abilities, and non-humans, to be able to live in the outside world without fear. I really hope she succeeds, but I'm also carrying my gun in case it goes south."

Amanda grinned wryly. "Sounds like a plan to me."


	7. The Green Man

"That's the place. That orphanage right there. I'm telling you Tyr, I felt something in there." The hazy image of the brick orphanage filled the entire monitor.

"A vague 'feeling' isn't near enough, Jocelyn." The figure standing behind the chair shook his head in disappointment. "It's too close to where we hung the bodies to go, unless you're sure that it's worth the attention."  
"We haven't ever worried about attention before," Jocelyn muttered, yellow irises glowing brightly in the dim light of her screen.

"That woman… she is very, very skilled. And we can't afford to be caught before we ensnare her, for believe me, she will join us, and then we will exact our retribution." He leaned over his companion, tracing the screenshot of a window of the orphanage. "Careless. They left it open."

"It would be easy to get in and out of." A few taps of keys brought up another image, the website. Then a page full of images of children, ranging from toddlers to teenagers. "I sense magics, Tyrrell. That's what I do, and we both know I am _very_ good at what I do. And I _know_ that someone in that orphanage has power. Not just a little, but a lot. Either part fae, or a very rare gifted, powerful, and dangerous human." The woman's fingers danced over the keyboard, the screen shifting to hazy video-footage of two figures, one climbing a lightpost. "And I'll bet you she's guarding whoever it is. She's never gotten there so fast before, so she must have been in the area, which means it's likely she lives close by. And if she's as powerful as you say, then she must have been able to sense it too."

A slow grin spread across the man's face, though it stopped short of his cold, empty eyes. "Then we have some plans to make," he murmured. "Ere the year closes, you will know where you belong, Queen's Bane."

"Tell me about this Elryn," Nuada demanded, blocking Raid's chop to the neck and responding with a strike towards her chin. It was a slower kind of sparring, focused more on technique than power, much to the prince's surprise. With Raid's mood, he had been anticipating a session like their earlier one, quick and potentially deadly.

Raid gritted her teeth, glaring at Nuada as she leaned away from his strike, taking a small step back and lashing a side-kick towards his torso. "You know, you ask one hell of a lot of questions," she spat out, dancing around him as he struck at her. The majority of their blows were only half-hearted, and for all that she was the one who had suggested sparring, Nuada could see that she really wasn't into it.

"And you are very skilled at giving half-truths, or avoiding answering at all," he replied, throwing a series of crescent kicks towards the hybrid. Blocking one and ducking beneath the other, Raid danced away from him, her eyes darkening.

"We used to work together. And, at one point, we were…" her words faltered, and her distraction cost her as she only partially avoided Nuada's straight chop, catching it on the edge of her shoulder, rather than directly on the collar bone. "Well, it doesn't matter now." There was an edge to her voice, one that Nuada now recognized as warning. But his dislike for Elryn was only increasing with every word she spoke about him, and he felt a strange anger in him at what her last statement left unsaid.

Startled out of her brooding by the sudden ferocity of Nuada's blows, Raid responded by quickening her own strikes and blocks. The tension between the pair of combatants was almost palpable as they continued to meet each other, blow for blow, block for block, and duck for duck. After a few minutes, Raid could taste the saltiness of sweat on her upper lip, even as she landed an elbow to Nuada's solar plexus. At some point, they had discarded kicks, instead moving in closer and using their full bodies against each other. Grappling became increasingly difficult as sweat made their skin slick.

Raid made a two-handed strike towards Nuada, leaving her upper body open. Nuada tried to lean away from her punches, going low to strike the area she had left vulnerable, but then he was falling forward, and too late he realized Raid had used her seemingly foolish attack to distract him from his feet. Unfortunately for Raid, he stumbled towards her, and since her feet were tangled with his, they both fell down onto the mat.

"You two were lovers." It wasn't a question, and there was a hint of anger in his voice that distracted the hybrid, allowing the elf to pin Raid's arms away from her sides. She started to bring her knee up, but his question stalled her.

"Sort of. Not that it's any of your damn business. And I didn't exactly leave him on the best of terms," she told him acidly, irritated at the prodding of old wounds, and at Nuada for his frivolous questions. About to hiss back a retort, the words died as she met his eyes.

There was a light in them, and as she started to become aware of her surroundings again, Raid realized that his grip on her arms was tight enough to bruise. "It's really none of your concern though," she baited, trying to get some sort of response from him. "Seeing as you still seem bent on ending our deal on less than cordial terms." It was a dangerous game she was playing, worse than playing with fire—with fire you could just get burned, but there was so much more that she could lose here.  
A sharp breath escaped her as Nuada moved, and she started to raise her arms over her face, wondering if she had pushed him too far. Instead she was forced to look into Nuada's eyes a scant few breaths from her own. A silent curse ran through her mind, as she tried to think, her traitorous heart pounding in her chest. Oddly enough, she could hear Nuada's heart rate increasing with hers.

His calloused hands framed her face, ensuring that she couldn't look away from him. Nuada wasn't sure why he had reacted the way he had; he was tired of Raid's suspicions, and, though he would never admit it, feeling a little jealous, though he passed it off to himself as possessiveness. Raid was his; she had forged a bond between them, and now she belonged to him.

"It's simple, really," he whispered, his lips just hovering over Raid's. Both their hearts were pounding rapidly, and he was pleased at Raid's vulnerability. "I don't care to share," he finished, and then his lips were on hers, tasting the saltiness of sweat mixed with her own flavor of honey and mint as his hands held her face in an iron grip.

Raid's rational thoughts were trying to collect themselves, after she had decided, in an impulsive, obviously human idea, that she could kiss him. Even as her arms started to come up to hold onto Nuada, her rational thoughts picked themselves up from where they had fallen in shock and overthrew her emotions. Banging her head on the ground as she pulled back from Nuada, Raid's hands found purchase on his marbled chest and pushed, nails digging in, leaving little red crescents behind.

Nuada's eyes widened in surprise, and a little indignation, at Raid's reaction. One moment he could feel her desire, her hunger meeting his own in that kiss, and the next she was pushing him away, eyes bright with fury.

"You—how dare you—" she started, her anger rendering her incapable of finishing a sentence. Secretly she wasn't sure who she was more furious with; herself or Nuada. Nuada's own hackles rose in response to her tone.

"How dare I what, hybrid?" he growled. Irritation coursed through him as well. He had almost had her there, completely vulnerable, and she had even been willing.

Raid snarled at him, but before either of them could get out anymore words a voice came from near the door.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," came a smooth, lilting voice. Startled, Raid's arms went limp as she tried to look towards the door behind her head.

Nuada stood up quickly, as if Raid had burned him, turning his gaze towards the door. His golden eyes narrowed as he examined the new arrival. The man, who he assumed was Elryn, had a very slight, willowy build, and a face that was just short of being effeminate.

A pale, almost light-green complexion was visible through the unbuttoned neck of his dress shirt and on his sharp, angular face. The most striking feature of the other man were his vivid green eyes, which, upon closer examination, were actually four rings of different shades of green. Pale blond hair, with just the slightest green tint, was pulled back into a ponytail.

The two men's gaze locked as Raid picked herself up, dusting off her clothes as she glanced between Nuada and Elryn, a scowl slipping over her face.

"Elryn, Nuada. Nuada, Elryn," she said by way of introduction, though it wasn't really necessary.

"Yes, there was the danger I could have mistaken him for some other psychopath elven prince," Elryn replied scathingly, shifting his gaze to Raid. The disappointment visible in his eyes caused the hybrid to cross her arms over her chest, glaring at him in return.

"Elryn," she warned, dropping her arms after she realized she had crossed them, and stepped carefully between him and Nuada, much to Nuada's annoyance. He didn't need her to stand up for him, especially not to some forest spirit who looked like a single push would break him.

"Don't, Raid. Please, just not now." The green man suddenly rubbed a hand over his face, his shoulders slumping. His whole appearance spoke to exhaustion: the rumpled, untucked, and half-buttoned dress shirt; the black slacks spattered with dirt at the hem; and the stray strands of hair falling around his face.

"At least the hybrid has better manners than you, green man," Nuada taunted, causing Raid's shoulders to tighten in irritation. The newcomer might be a pure-blood fae, but for some reason the green man's presence irked him more than Raid's.

Elryn's head jerked up, and his mouth opened for a retort but Raid cut across him. "Would it kill you to pretend to be pleasant for once?" she asked the elf without looking at him. The exasperation barely concealed the note of relief he could hear underneath it all. She was relieved… about what? That the green man had interrupted them? Nuada gnashed his teeth together at the unpleasant thought.

It was quickly escalating out of control for Raid—it had been since she had brought Nuada back to life**, **and now things were getting worse. She had to get the situation back under some pretense of control.

"Elryn, how did you get here so fast?" she asked, both trying to change the subject and avoid picking a fight with either of the men.

"Willowlark. That was her body that you found earlier tonight," he said, eyes darkening with sadness.

Raid's features softened, and she stepped forward, placing a hand on the green man's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I swear to you, I will find these culprits and kill them." The edge in her voice at the end of her declaration sent a shiver down Nuada's spine; they were more alike, he and her, than either of them wanted to admit.

Elryn shook his head, covering Raid's hand with his own. "No. Not alone you won't be. Willowlark was a grove protector, and a very old one at that. It took considerable power to kill her, especially without alerting any of the other fae in the area that something was wrong." His green eyes met Nuada's briefly, and the elf could swear there was an accusation in that look. The green man couldn't possibly be blaming him for the dryad's death, could he? But the more egregious insult was the implication that Raid wasn't capable enough on her own.

The tension in the room was like the calm before the storm. The hybrid stiffened, and though he couldn't see her face, Nuada knew her eyes would be narrowed and carefully blank. Stepping backwards, Raid tucked a strand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail during sparring behind one slightly pointed ear. "Perhaps we should go into the living room to continue this discussion," she prompted, though it was apparent that she wasn't going to listen to any arguments. Nuada could have sworn he saw the anger rolling through the hybrid, lighting her up from the inside. He barely knew her, yet she was becoming so easy for him to read. This set to her shoulders indicated that while furious, she wasn't going to openly admit it.

Walking past Elryn she grabbed a towel, mopping the sweat off of her face, before proceeding through the door. Hesitating, Elryn cast a wary glance at Nuada before following, obviously uneasy about having the elf behind him and subsequently out of sight. Glowering at the other man's back, Nuada slipped on his shirt from where he had discarded it while sparring.

He didn't like Elryn, and the feeling was mutual. And if it had been anywhere else, Nuada would have challenged him for the insult that Elryn had tossed at him, but he knew Raid would not forgive him if he did. For some reason, Raid's condemnation was enough to prevent him from fighting, and it irked him.

There was no reason he should let her affect him this way, the elven prince thought as the group twined their way throw the maze of bookshelves. That kiss back there—involuntarily his hand clenched, again his thoughts returning to how much he hated Elryn.

For a moment, albeit a short one, he had had Raid under his control. Now he knew that she had a weakness for him, one that he would exploit. Yet he couldn't decide why she would give him such an opening, when she had made it clear to him that she wasn't afraid to kill him if he broke their deal.

It was baffling— how Raid could want him—and it made him a little, well, it made him feel like perhaps he was wrong. The prince had insulted her, been rude, fought with her on just about everything, yet she still had managed to develop feelings for him.

In the end it would result in heartbreak, and pain. There simply was no other way that he saw it ending. They were just too different. Nuada was brought out of his brooding thoughts by the soft plop of Raid sinking onto a couch, arms crossed over her chest. Another habit of hers—she crossed her arms when she was upset but wasn't allowed to punch anything.

Elryn once more cast a cautious glance at Nuada, before perching on an overstuffed chair, relaxing only when Nuada took a seat on the couch beside Raid. The green man reminded him of a song-bird, flighty and slight. A smirk tilted up the corner of his mouth as he sized the other man up and found him lacking.

Scowling, the hybrid scooted away from Nuada, though he hadn't left much room. For good measure, she added a 'humph' to let Nuada know how displeased she was with him. She didn't care how childish or hard-headed she was being right now; this was just not her week.

The silence built between the three, Nuada content to simply observe, Raid glowering in refusal to speak, and Elryn hesitant to broach the subject that was the reason he was there. The audible sound of the clock ticking away was the only reminder that time was actually passing, and that they weren't all frozen in a silent stand-off.

"Tea anyone?" came a forcibly cheerful voice. In swept Bryn, carrying a tray with three cups of steaming tea, a small bowl with sugar and a spoon, and a half-filled plastic bear with honey. Her entrance seemed to shatter the odd pressure of the room, and it was suddenly easier for all of them to breathe again. Setting the tray on the table, she smiled sweetly at Elryn, carefully avoiding meeting either Raid or Nuada's gaze.

"Thank you Bryn," Elryn replied with a smile for the young teenager, causing a real, brilliant smile to spread across her face in return. Reaching out he took one of the cups of tea, before leaning back in his seat, taking a small sip. He made a small nod of approval that added a smug edge to Bryn's smile. The other two ignored the tea, but Bryn was not deterred in the least. Nuada, in her mind, was not a factor worthy of consideration, and Raid was in one of her moods, which meant nothing would earn her approval.

"It's nice to see you," Bryn continued, speaking to the earth spirit as she perched on the edge of one of the empty chairs. The bubbly tone of her voice clashed harshly with the aura of gloom and doom emanating from Raid.

"It is good seeing you too. You have grown up since last I saw you," Elryn responded. His eyes flicked to Raid briefly, before returning to the human girl. Raid shifted uncomfortably, her gaze suddenly roving around the room, resting anywhere that wasn't one of the other breathing occupants of the room. "Would you mind giving us a few minutes?" he asked.

Bryn's eyes darkened, and she stood up, her smile vanishing as quick as a cloud passing over the sun. The girl turned to the hybrid, focusing her large eyes on her. "Please Raid. Just… listen." Then the girl left, walking back down the hallway from whence she came.

Setting his tea down, Elryn locked gazes with Raid. His soft demeanor had hardened, and now a frown pulled at his mouth. "What were you thinking Raid?" There was anger mixed with the disapproval, and Nuada could barely conceal his anticipation of a fight between the green man and his hybrid. That was it, he realized. That was why he didn't like the man; because Raid was _his. _They had a deal, and there was no way Nuada was about to let Elryn come between them. Satisfied with the explanation for all the strange feeling he had been having, he sat back, anticipating the argument between Elryn and Raid with barely concealed pleasure.

Raid sat up in response to Elryn's question, mouth tightening in displeasure. Nuada was suddenly glad that, for the moment, he was not the cause of her anger.

"What I was thinking was that someone has to do something before all the fae roll over and die," she snarled, eyes flashing with heat. She held up a hand to forestall any more questions or scolding. "And since when did you become the human go-to person?" she demanded.

"I spent quite some time running around with you, before you decided it was too dangerous for me." Elryn tried to keep his tone level, but there was an edge of frustration and hurt behind his words. His hands ran through his hair, further messing up the once neat ponytail.

"And frankly, I'm the best suited for consorting with humans. The dryads have problems with males, usually, and I know how to fight, thanks to you. I do what they need done in the human world, because no one else can. This time, it was finding Willowlark, or, in this case, her body." His voice was more controlled now as he spoke the words, trying to keep as much emotion out of them as possible. The hands were once more clasping the tea cup.

"You—!" Raid started, and then lowered her voice. "You aren't… you aren't deceitful, nor ruthlessness enough. Or you weren't when I knew you, and that's why I left you. I didn't want you becoming like me. I didn't want you to become someone who has no scruples or morals or even a conscience most of the time," the hybrid started, voice tinged with bitterness and a quiet sadness. There was pain in there too, yet rather than exploit that pain, Nuada wanted to bury it so deep that it would never trouble her again. _No… no. I need to use it_, he desperately tried to reason with himself. He was suddenly eager for Elryn to be gone, or at least for the green man to change subjects.

The elf shifted, trying not to interfere in the conversation, but at the same time wanting to argue with Raid. Her portrayal of herself was vastly different from what he saw; he saw a woman who cared too much, who was too concerned for others and not enough for herself. Her reasons for bringing him back more than proved that.

"Saraid, listen to me!" The use of her full name silenced Raid, and Elryn was able to continue without her interrupting. "You do what needs to be done, but you aren't that black-hearted like you paint yourself. Those who you've killed deserved it, for one reason or another.

And it's your damned sense of honor and duty that is why I'm here," he told her, exasperated. "He's a killer, Raid, and not like you. He murders just because someone is in his way—you avoid innocents." As he continued, Elryn's voice became filled with a cold anger, and the green of his irises started to glow. There was a new undercurrent of earth to the air, a moist scent that brought to mind hidden groves. "You shouldn't have brought him back Raid. He won't change, and he _will_ hurt you! Damn it, muirnín—"

"Don't. Call. Me. That," Raid spoke slowly, emphasizing each word. Her hands had clenched, and she was now at the edge of the couch. She wasn't sure when the conversation had shifted strands, but she wasn't happy with its current direction. Once again the situation was spiraling beyond her control, taking on a life of its own.

Nuada stiffened slightly at the nickname the other male had used, eyes narrowing. It became clear to him that while Raid might insist that whatever had been between her and the other fae was over, he could see that Elryn still cared for her. This was not acceptable.

Moving closer to Raid, he carefully pressed his side against hers his left hand just barely brushing against her thigh. It was not unnoticed by the other two, nor did he want it to be. The green man had to understand he had no place here.

Elryn's lips curled in disgust as he looked over Nuada. "I can understand why you are doing what you are doing. I don't agree with your methods. But what price did you have to pay to bring this murderer back to life? What is it going to cost you? What bargain did you strike this time?" he asked the hybrid. There was a new note to his voice, and with surprise, he realized it was fear. Fear for his hybrid.

Nuada's brow furrowed. Again, this talk of bargains. What was he missing? There was something Raid was keeping from him, and he wanted to know—no, he _needed _to know.

"None of anyone's damn business!" Raid exclaimed, pushing away Nuada's hand and standing up, pacing on her side of the room. "I know why the kids called you, but you can't change my mind. And you are no better than the rest of them! I know what Nuada did! I was there! I saw him kill those people in the auction house, unleash the forest god in the city, and die!"

Her voice lowered, and there was an intensity in it that riveted her audience and made them pay attention to her every word. "But if I don't do something, then the fae will fade. They need a leader, and frankly, the elves are the most powerful race, in force and in politics. And Nuada isn't afraid to make changes. I can't do it alone. The humans would never respect or listen to me alone, and no fae will stand beside an abomination like me," she said.

"You're not an abomination!" Elryn cried, standing and crossing to Raid, but stopping short of touching her. "Raid, please, I don't want to see you get hurt. There are others, there are other ways to do this, you don't need him—" he gestured to Nuada, motions almost frantic.

Nuada decided it was time to interject. Standing up, he stood next to Raid, one hand gripping her arm in a possessive hold that told the other man that Raid was no longer his. "She has made her decision, green man," he said, voice cold. "I suggest you accept it, because we have a bargain, and I am not going anyplace until its terms are met."

Elryn's eyes widened, and he took a step back, recoiling from Nuada's words as if they were a viper. "Dealing with the Fates isn't dangerous enough? You had to strike a deal with this devil? Raid… this is going to cost you too much."

"The Fates' price I agreed to, and the terms of our bargain are simple. I am not going to stand by for more centuries just to see the fae disappear." Raid briefly considered brushing off Nuada's arm, but she was still in shock from the fact that he was touching her on his own accord.

Actually, she wasn't sure what to expect from the elven prince now. That kiss had come out of nowhere, and damn it all, now she couldn't stop thinking about it. If his goal had been to get in her head, he had succeeded.

Her gaze flicked to Nuada, and he met her gaze with his yellow eyes. "What is this bargain?" he asked Raid, voice still cold.

"In order to restore you and your sister, I struck a deal with the Fates. Part of that deal though is that I don't discuss the price." Raid sounded tired, and she rubbed a hand over her face, returning her gaze to Elryn.

"Elryn… I'm sorry, but I'm not going to change my mind. However, I could really use your help. Whoever murdered Willowlark is still out there, and they will kill again. Soon. They have a pattern, and I'm sure it's a group of individuals. I don't understand their motive, though. They hunt and kill fae and humans. It's strange, to say in the least." She waited expectantly for a reply, trying to ignore Nuada's grip tightening on her arm. Apparently he didn't like her inviting Elryn to join them.

Elryn knew it was a bad idea, that it would only end up hurting him however it turned out, because if Raid got hurt, he would ache for her, and if she didn't, than he would have lost her to Nuada. "I have to find Willowlark's killer, and we were a pretty good team," he said, adding a small smile, ignoring his better judgment.

Nuada's scowl seemed intent on summoning a storm in the room. "Nuada—" Raid gritted out, gaze flicking sideways to look at him. Her patience was wearing thin with his possessive attitude. It had thrown her at first, but it was getting old, and quickly.

Releasing her arm, the elven prince stepped back, hands falling to his sides in a position that almost looked relaxed, but was given away by the tensed shoulders.

"Then it's settled." A look passed between them, a private exchange that Nuada was not a part of.

"Raid!" There came a panicked scream down the hallway, and all of the at least part fae heard the sound of shattering glass. The hybrid hesitated for a split moment, before she ran down the hallway, weaponless. Nuada was close on her heels, followed closely by Elryn.

Bryn was holding the house phone as far away from her body as she could, as if it had suddenly become poisonous. "What?" Raid gasped, eyes flicking around the room, looking for the enemy. Her next steps took her to the rack of knives where she drew forth a chef's knife and a longer filleting knife.

"It's—" Rather than finishing the sentence Bryn shoved the phone into Raid's face. Her face was white, and her eyes were wide with worry and fear. Her gaze darted outside, and Raid followed Bryn's glance, letting out a low hiss. A huge blackbird perched on the windowsill, watching her with its bright yellow eyes. Unable to take the phone with the knives in her hands, and unwilling to set down her weapons while the creature looked at her, Raid stepped in front of Bryn, jerking her head towards the back door as a signal to the two men.

Bryn looked back over her shoulder, stepping farther away from the window as she did so. "Andrea—" Bryn started to finish, but Raid cut her off with a shake of her head. Nuada and Elryn were both moving towards the back door, but slowly, trying not to alert the bird to their presence. It was a pointless exercise though, as the beady yellow eyes fixed on the two men. Unfortunately for the creature, Nuada and Elryn were not the threat to it.

Raid took a single step forward, throwing her hip around and channeling all of her momentum into the long triangular blade in her left hand. The kitchen window exploded, and the bird shrieked in pain as slivers of glass sliced through its feathers. It fell backwards, wings beating madly to get away from the advancing hybrid. Her blade had only nicked it, the force necessary to break the window altering the path of her weapon.

She threw the second knife, but the balance was off from her normal throwing knives and it fell short of the blackbird as it cawed in anger, before laboriously flying away, leaving behind a few stray feathers and a pool of dark, sticky blood.

"Damn it," Raid hissed, eyes tracking the slowly diminishing dot. She stepped forward, retrieving the second knife from the windowsill.

"What the hell?" The startled voice came from behind her, and Raid whirled, knife in hand, which caused Darron to take a step back, eyes darting to the knife.

"Darron! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Letting out a sigh Raid placed the knife on the counter, shoulders relaxing.

"You broke the window?" he asked, looking towards the shattered kitchen window. "Mom's gonna be pissed."

That made Elryn look around as he walked forward, intent on trying to comfort Bryn. "Where is your mother?" he asked, suddenly realizing he had not seen Amanda at all. He knew that the Bryn's scream would have brought her running.

"Mom's at work," Bryn answered, hugging herself tightly. "Raid… what was that thing?" she asked, eyes bright with unshed tears.

"It was a scout." Nuada answered, voice edged with anger. "It was being possessed by a magic-user to spy. Usually those creatures are not so forward, though. Have you no protections around this house?" he demanded of Raid.

"Of course I have protections about the house," Raid snapped, squeezing Bryn's shoulder in reassurance as she glared at Nuada. "They aren't meant to stop spies though. Just threats."

"And a spy isn't a threat?" Nuada and Elryn both asked at the same time.

Raid stiffened, eyes narrowing. "Need I remind you both that I have been taking care of myself without either of you for a long time?" she gritted out between clenched teeth.

Before either men could respond, Bryn gasped. "Andrea! Raid, she said that she felt like she was being followed. And in danger. Then the line went dead."

The blood drained from Raid's face, and for a moment it looked like she might collapse. "Darron, call your mother. Tell her to meet us at the orphanage and to bring backup. Nuada, Elryn, arm up and be out in the car in two minutes, or I'm leaving you behind."

Bryn clutched at Raid's arm. "You're going to leave us alone?" she asked, the fear returning to her eyes.

Closing her eyes, Raid tried to slow down and think. Leaving the kids behind could be dangerous… but taking them could be even more so. "Stay in the library," she finally said. "That room, as long as you lock the doors, will not let in anything with ill intentions. Don't open the door. I will when I return." Gently prying off Bryn's fingers, Raid quickly left the room.

She grabbed her keys from the hall table, slipping on her boots without any socks. Comfort was a luxury that was at the bottom of her priority list at the moment. She had weapons in her car; all she needed were for Elryn and Nuada to hurry up.

A curse escaped her as she fumbled the key in the ignition. Taking a deep breath, Raid closed her eyes, trying to slow down. The car door opened, and she heard a body slide into the passenger seat beside her. A touch brought her eyes open, and Raid froze in shock, eyes caught by Nuada's yellow gaze.

Nuada watched the flash of astonishment flash across her face, and realized that he was getting better at reading her. Either that, or Raid was getting worse at hiding her emotions. "You know what is happening." His voice was edged with irritation, but it was subtle.

"Yes," she whispered, still captivated by Nuada's closeness. The elven prince was leaning over the middle console, and Raid became aware of the fact that she hadn't let out her breath.

When no more words were forthcoming, Nuada's eyebrows drew together and he pulled back a little. "And what is happening?" he asked, looking away.

Raid was saved by the side door slamming as Elryn slipped in the vehicle. "Buckle up," Raid snapped, remembering to breathe before starting the car and slamming it into gear. The tires squealed as she pulled out of the driveway, and the SUV just barely avoided hitting the gates that were still opening as they pulled through.

"Raid, slow down. We can't get a ticket—" In response Raid reached up and flicked a silver button on the dashboard. Instantly the dashboard lit up with alternating blue and red flashes, and a loud wail emanated from the front of the car.

"Those are new," Elryn muttered as he looked at the lights, disapproval radiating from him.

The speedometer climbed, surpassing sixty, then seventy, then eighty as Raid's path started to clear as cars heard the siren.

"Raid—" Elryn started with an exasperated sigh. "This is breaking human laws," he continued, but was cut off with a low hiss of anger.

"I don't give a damn, right now. It's better this way; fewer idiots get in my way," she growled, eyes fixed on the road. The speedometer was now hovering above 100 m.p.h. and holding.

Nuada closed his eyes as Raid swerved through traffic, his knuckles turning white as he struggled to try and look strong. He refused to hold on to anything because Elryn seemed so at ease, and the elven prince did not want to look weak.

A cry and the squealing of brakes brought his eyes open though, and he fixed his gaze on Raid. Then he followed her look through the dashboard and frowned. The horizon was tinged with grey and glowing red.

"They lit the orphanage on fire!"


End file.
